Michigan Central Railway Bridge
Michigan Central Railway Bridge | ||
---|---|---|
Clearance above 240 feet (73 m) | | |
History | ||
Opened | 1925 | |
Closed | 2001 | |
Statistics | ||
Daily traffic | none | |
Toll | N/A | |
Location | ||
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The Michigan Central Railway Bridge is an out-of-service steel Deck arch bridge spanning the Niagara Gorge between Niagara Falls, Ontario and Niagara Falls, New York. The bridge is owned by Canadian Pacific Kansas City, which (as CP Rail) purchased the single track structure in 1990. The Canadian corridor and bridge are owned by the City of Niagara Falls, Ontario.[1] The bridge is located just upstream from the older arch-style Whirlpool Rapids Bridge used by Maple Leaf Amtrak passenger trains.
History
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/46/Michigan_Central_Railway_Bridge_National_Map.png/220px-Michigan_Central_Railway_Bridge_National_Map.png)
The bridge was designed by
Today the bridge no longer carries train traffic and the tracks have been removed both on the bridge and on the line leading to it. There is currently a wall across the centre of the bridge that is topped with barbed wire to prevent people from walking across it. Additional barrier and barbed wire is located on the sides to prevent climbing on the steel arch sections. A wired fence blocks the east side (American) and another wall blocks the west side (in Canada). The line leading to the bridge on the Canadian side is now partially a rail trail. Niagara Fallsview Casino Resort was also built on part of the line in 2004. On the American side, most traces of the line leading to the bridge from the Niagara Subdivision are gone completely. Construction of a new Amtrak station in 2016 removed the bridge over Main Street that connected the line to the subdivision and fenced in a portion of the former line across from the new station for security purposes, making it into a gravel lot area for U.S. Customs and Border Protection. A New York State project in 2019 that removed the Niagara Scenic Parkway viaduct and created park space in its place also removed the bridge over Whirlpool Street and the trestle connector, leaving the bridge with no connection on the American side.[4][5]
See also
- List of bridges documented by the Historic American Engineering Record in New York
- List of crossings of the Niagara River
Engineering portal
New York (state) portal
Ontario portal
Transport portal
References
- ^ "Bridges Over Niagara Falls". www.niagarafrontier.com. Retrieved 2020-01-14.
- ^ Bjork, Kenneth Saga In Steel And Concrete - Norwegian Engineers In America (Northfield, Minnesota: Norwegian-American Historical Association, 1947)
- ^ "Whirlpool Rapids Railroad Bridge (Michigan Central Railway Bridge) - HistoricBridges.org". historicbridges.org. Retrieved 2019-10-24.
- ^ Staff reports (2 May 2019). "Whirlpool Bridge set to reopen on Monday". Niagara Gazette. Retrieved 2019-10-24.
- ^ "CP Railroad Bridge Demolition". New York State Department of Transportation. October 24, 2019. Retrieved October 24, 2019.
External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
- Bridges Over The Niagara River
- Detailed information on the construction of this bridge
- Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) No. NY-553, "Michigan Central Railway Bridge, Spanning Niagara Gorge, Niagara Falls, Niagara County, NY", 2 photos, 1 photo caption page