Meridian Bridge

View the National Register of Historic Places nomination form for this bridge.

Located in Yankton, this large through truss bridge was built to carry US Highway 81 and a proposed railroad across the Missouri River. The City of Yankton had long sought a permanent crossing across the Missouri River into rural Cedar County, Nebraska. A pontoon bridge and a ferry operated at Yankton during the summer months, but would be closed during the winter. This was particularly troublesome for businesses in Yankton, which did considerable trade across the river in Nebraska. In 1915, a group of Yankton businesses organized a private bridge company to construct a bridge across the Missouri River, but the group disbanded after the United States entered World War I. The project was again revived in 1919, and Harrington, Howard & Ash of Kansas City would be retained in January 1920 to design a double deck lift bridge. The bridge would be one of the last missing links along a highway between Mexico and Canada, which roughly followed the 6th Principal Meridian. This highway was known as the Meridian Highway. The bridge was originally designed to serve a proposed railroad on the lower deck, with roadway traffic utilizing the upper deck.

Because the bridge was privately financed, it was funded by a mix of initial investments and tolls. The first contract for the bridge was awarded at the end of 1920 to the Missouri Valley Bridge & Iron Company of Leavenworth, Kansas for construction of the piers. Construction of the piers was completed in 1922, and work was halted until funds could be raised for the superstructure. Work resumed in the fall of 1923, with American Bridge Company fabricating the steel, and Kelly-Atkinson Construction Company erecting the steel. The bridge officially opened to traffic in October 1924. At the completion of construction, the total cost of the bridge had been $1.15 million. US Highway 81 was authorized in 1926, and originally extended from Laredo, Texas on the Mexican border; to Pembina, North Dakota on the Canadian border. The bridge was named the Meridian Bridge, as it was part of the Meridian Highway.

At the time of construction, the bridge utilized six 250-foot 9-panel riveted Pratt through truss spans, and a 6-panel 170' span of the same design. One of the 250-foot spans was constructed as a vertical lift span, although it is believed the lift mechanism was used sparingly. All seven of the truss spans utilized heavy built up members and vertical endposts. The original upper deck approaches included steel girders and concrete slabs, with sweeping curves to allow the proposed railroad traffic underneath. The entire bridge was set onto concrete piers, and the upper deck approaches utilized steel bents. The upper deck was utilized by tolled highway traffic, and had a concrete deck. For the first thirty years of the bridges life, the lower deck was empty and idle. Decorative features, such as railings and concrete insets were present throughout the bridge

While the bridge was constructed with a railroad deck, no railroad ever utilized the bridge. The Great Northern, Chicago & North Western and the Milwaukee Road all had tracks in Yankton, but no railroad desired to construct a new route into rural Nebraska. The bridge would be sold to the City of Yankton in 1946, and tolling ended in 1953. At the same time, the previously unused lower deck would be converted to southbound roadway use, while the upper deck was converted to northbound use. A portion of the south upper deck approach was reconstructed in 1969, and the remaining approaches were reconstructed in 1983 with steel stringers on modern concrete piers.

As traffic demands increased, the new Discovery Bridge was constructed upstream. This new bridge opened in 2008, and US Highway 81 was moved to the new bridge. After three years, the bridge reopened to pedestrian traffic. Overall, the bridge appears to be in fair to good condition, with no critical defects noted. The bridge continues to be a landmark in Yankton, and is well used by pedestrians. The author has ranked this bridge as being highly significant, due to the large scale truss design.