Then in 1871, the line was extended 57 miles further north to Cedar Rapids. This line would form the mainline, along with the Cedar Rapids-Albert Lea portion of the line.
In 1876, the line became part of the Burlington, Cedar Rapids & Northern Railway. The BCR&N was building many lines around Iowa at the time.
This line would start in Burlington, go through Sperry, Mediapolis, cross the Iowa Central at Morning Sun,
cross a Rock Island line at Columbus Junction, cross the Milwaukee Road at Conesville, have a junction of two branch lines at Nichols,
go through West Liberty, West Branch and Solon before arriving in Cedar Rapids.
In 1901, the BCR&N finished their connection to St. Paul, Minnesota by building north. In 1903, the BCR&N was purchased by the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific.
The RI used the line as a mainline until 1980, when they fell into bankruptcy.
North of Cedar Rapids was eventually used again, same with a short spur near Columbus Junction.
The spur near Columbus Junction was abandoned in 2008 after part of a bridge collapsed due to flooding.
Today, from Cedar Rapids to Burlington is planned to become the Hoover Trail, which a few segments exist today.
01/14/22
This bridge was an 7 span Deck Plate Girder at one time. This bridge lost 4 spans in the Great Flood of 2008.
Built in 1922, the bridge replaced an older BCR&N Parker Through Truss.
Currently, there are some plans for the bridge. It is proposed to remove the rest of this destroyed bridge, and to create a signature pedestrian bridge across the river utilizing either the old piers or new piers.
The bridge has 3 main spans which stand abandoned on the north side of the river, very hard to access.
The north sides neighborhoods have been decimated. Almost all structures were completely destroyed by the flooding. The south side fared a little better.
The south side of the river includes a routing for the Cedar River Trail, which may have used this bridge if it were not destroyed.
Currently, all piers exist. Pier #2 has been cut down, likely due to massive flood waters. The remainder of the bridge is in extremely poor condition, and likely could succumb to another flood soon.
The author has ranked this bridge as being locally significant, due to the common design and newer age. It is believed this old bridge will be razed in 2021.
The photo above is an overview of the ruins from the south bank.
| Upstream | CIC Cedar River Bridge (New) |
| Downstream | UP Cedar River Bridge |