In 1875, the route was purchased by the Nebraska Railway, who was merged into the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad by 1878.
By 1879, a new route was desired between Lincoln and Seward, and the B&MR constructed it, meeting up with the old line in Seward. The new route extended through towns such as Milford, before turning east and reaching Lincoln.
The following year, subsidiary Lincoln and Northwestern built to Columbus, crossing the Platte River at that point.
Several upgrades occurred along this route. The first significant realignment occurred in 1881 around the Platte River crossing, south of Columbus.
By 1908, the routes all became part of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy system. While the original route between Seward and Lincoln was a branch line, the newer route provided a point for a second mainline across Nebraska, and eventually to Wyoming and Billings, Montana.
In a flood during March of 1960, the Platte River bridge washed out, severing service to Columbus. However, the bridge was restored quickly, and appeared in use until 1983, when it was abandoned.
An additional realignment was built around Woodlawn in 1956, and again in 1968. By 1970, the CB&Q merged with Northern Pacific and Great Northern to form Burlington Northern.
The Woodlawn-Seward line was abandoned in 1983, leaving only the "new" route in service. It appears that the Platte River Bridge may have been officially abandoned in 1991 and removed soon after. The bridge was gone in the 1994 aerial imagery. In 1996, a new bridge was built to connect to a soybean processing plant.
In 1996, BN merged with the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe to form BNSF Railway, the current owner of the route. Because this route is a mainline towards Billings, the route has been double tracked between Seward and Lincoln, including an area around Milford in 2016.
Today, the Lincoln-Seward route is known as the Ravenna Subdivision, heading towards Wyoming and Montana. The Seward-Columbus route is known as the Bellwood Spur.
06/26/21
Located west of Emerald, this simple slab bridge crosses 112th Street just north of A Street.
Built in 1920, the bridge consists of a skewed concrete slab, which also functions as a concrete box culvert. These underpasses were common on nearly every railroad in America. Unlike some similar structures, this bridge is exclusively functional and has no decorative features.
Since the original construction, little change has been made to this bridge. The only notable alteration involves raising the headwall and wing walls on the north face of the bridge, likely to raise the westbound track.
Overall, the bridge appears to be in fair condition, with some significant cracking forming throughout the structure.
The author has ranked this bridge as being locally significant, due to the common design.
The photo above is an overview.