Rulo Rail Bridge
The Rulo Rail Bridge is a truss bridge across the Missouri River connecting Rulo, Nebraska, with Holt [County, Missouri], and is used by the BNSF Railway to transport coal from Wyoming and Colorado to Midwest power plants.
History
Original bridge
The original bridge opened for service in the first week of October 1887 for a cost of about. It had three steel truss spans. The bridge was fabricated in England and reassembled at Rulo.Current bridge
In January 1976, Burlington Northern announced plans to rebuild the bridge, which was long at the time but would be shortened to in the reconstructed version.In 1977, the steel truss was replaced in 48 hours when sections of the new bridge were assembled on either side of the river, then lifted onto falsework towers on barges on both sides of the up and downstream sides. The new bridge was placed on the upstream towers and the old bridge was moved to the downstream side and then new bridge was placed on the original 1887 piers. The bridge now has two main spans over the river that are long.
The replaced bridge was dedicated on December 20, 1977, and the total cost of the operation was $8 million. Prior to the replacement, only grain rather than coal trains could cross the bridge. The updated bridge would host coal trains traveling over the river.