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Cairo Railroad Arch Bridge

Cairo Railroad Arch Bridge
General History
1903 Sycamore Street
Cairo Illinois 62914

Information

lat: 37.021246058677 long: -89.185745716095

This fairly early concrete arch bridge is an impressive gateway into Cairo and is next to a historic riveted floodgate that was built in 1914 next to the bridge. This bridge is locally known as a tunnel due to its considerable arch width, 94 feet.

The construction of this arch bridge was complicated by the deep deck trusses of the previous bridge. The arch had to literally be built around the trusses of the previous truss bridge, which were carefully removed after the arch bridge was completed. Prior to removal of the truss, the truss members passed right through the concrete arch. See the linked historical article for more information.

The riveted steel plate floodgate is a counterweighted structure that remains in place today and was originally designed to be lowered into place during floods. The flood gate was built by Stupp Brothers Bridge and Iron Company of St. Louis, Missouri. The floodgate is no longer used. It would appear that modular flood control gates stored off-site would be hauled in and inserted into a slot into the abutment of another nearby bridge in the event of a major flood today.

https://historicbridges.org/illinois/cairoarch/article.pdf

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