(Thanks to one of my favorite sites, Bridgehunter.com (link below) for this story and the two pictures above). This is the old railroad bridge in Boonville, Missouri, built in 1932 (and actually the third railroad bridge over the river there, with the original one dating back to the 1874). This bridge has been tied up in litigation for years, since its owner, Union Pacific ("UP"), has wanted to demolish most of it and use some of the approach spans as a part of a new bridge over the Missouri River in Osage City, Missouri. The bridge (not used since the 1980's) previously carried the MKT railroad across the river, and thus should (although UP has previously refused to allow it) be a part of the Katy Trail (which is now a pedestrian/bicycle trail across a huge swath of Missouri on the old MKT railroad right-of-way).Well, that's now apparently changed, and you dems will be happy to know that it appears to be an actual (although unintended) consequence of your massive stimulus bill and all of its non-stimulus-related earmarks (as I always say, a broken watch is right twice a day): The stimulus bill includes monies earmarked towards the building of the new bridge that UP wants in Osage City, and so therefore there is no longer any apparent interest by UP is using parts of the Boonville bridge in Osage City. As a result, it's being reported that UP has agreed to turn over the bridge to the City of Boonville for rehabilitation into a Katy Trail crossing of the Missouri River. I credit you on this one, UP, despite all of my previous criticisms of you (elsewhere on the Net -- I don't think I've broached this topic previously in this space). (BTW, what I want to know is how they are going to get that vertical lift to lower the middle span of the bridge down after 25 year of non-operation!?! -- but I digress).
A couple of further observations here. First, this is a great development. Recent years have seen a constant pattern of these old Missouri river bridges in Missouri being torn down right and left and never preserved (Hermann, Glasgow, Miami, Lexington, Leavenworth (railroad), the Chouteau Bridge in KC, the Boonville highway bridge, and SOON to be demolished: Atchison, Washington, and the Paseo Bridge in KC). Second, and more soberly, I'll frankly believe the Boonville bridge being a part of the Katy Trail when I see it. One fly in the ointment could be at the local level, because this will an expensive project, and Boonville is a small town and we are in hard economic times. But where there's a will, there's a way, and I think Boonville can do it!
More of a concern for me here is that the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers will try to sink their little devious tenacles into this situation. My previous understanding is that they consider the Boonville bridge to be a hazard to commerical barge traffic on the river (they consider every non-used bridge a hazard to such traffic, by the way). This entity known as the "Corp of Engineers" is the worst enemy of bridge buffs and bridge historians across the country. They sweep in the instant ANY historic bridge is no longer being used, with a constant drumbeat, backed up by federal government resources, that the bridge be immediately torn down. And they almost always get their way. As far as this Rager is concerned, the Corp can go you-know-what itself, and really needs to stay the hell out of the Boonville bridge rehab project. If they try to inject their dirty little hands into this situation, it will become a Crusade in this space and in any effort that I can give (in terms of persuading public opinion) that they fail in any such endeavor. Promise ya that. (Can you tell that I love these old bridges? I'm a bit of a nerd like that, so sue me).
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