View an article regarding the construction of this route.
Located a few miles south of Strasburg and west of 227th Street, through girder bridge carries the Rock Island Trail over a diversion channel of Crawford Creek.
The original bridge at this location was a wooden trestle. For unknown reasons, that bridge was replaced sometime in the 1970s or 1980s.
The current bridge at this location features a through plate girder main span, approached by a deck girder span to the west and two deck girders to the east. The bridge is set onto steel pile substructures, further indicating a ca. 1980 date.
It appears that the bridge was built of secondhand material, relocated from unknown locations. The eastern span has "7598" stenciled under a missing American Bridge Company plaque. This span is identical to the other two deck girders.
Because of the bankruptcy, it will be extremely difficult to find any information on these spans. All three of the approach spans appear to have come from the same location, and can be dated to Ca. 1915. The main span has no identifying plaques on it, and is estimated to be a Ca. 1900 span.
This bridge is also one of three large girder bridges between Dillon Road and 227th Street. The other two are the eastern Crawford Creek Bridge and the Big Creek Bridge.
After sitting abandoned for many years, the bridge was converted to a trail in 2016-17. Unlike several bridges along this line, this structure received a concrete deck directly on the railroad spans.
Overall, the bridge appears to be in good condition.
The author has ranked this bridge as being locally significant, due to the common design.
The photo above is an overview.