The Keokuk Bridge , also known as the Keokuk Municipal Bridge, is a double-deck, single-track railway and highway bridge across the Mississippi River in the United States between Keokuk, Iowa , and Hamilton, Illinois , just downstream of Mississippi Lock and Dam number 19. It was designed by Ralph Modjeski and constructed 1915–1916 on the piers of its predecessor that was constructed in 1869–1871.
6-526: Following the completion of the Keokuk-Hamilton Bridge , the upper deck of this bridge, on the Keokuk side, was converted to an observation deck to view the nearby lock and dam; this deck is no longer used for road traffic, but the lower deck is still used for rail traffic. The bridge was originally owned by the Keokuk & Hamilton Bridge Company, but following financial problems in the 1940s,
12-620: Is a steel girder, 4-lane bridge from Keokuk, Iowa to Hamilton, Illinois . It carries U.S. Route 136 across the Mississippi River . It also has fully fenced off pedestrian walkway. The Keokuk–Hamilton Bridge was built in 1985, taking over automobile traffic from the Keokuk Rail Bridge (though the latter bridge still carries rail traffic). During the Great Flood of 1993 , the rising Mississippi temporarily made
18-623: The Keokuk–Hamilton Bridge inaccessible from the Illinois side of the river; later, gravel was layered over the threatened section of U.S. 136 to raise its level and keep the road and bridge accessible for the remaining flood period. More recently, during the 2008 Midwest floods , the Illinois access was again threatened, but this time gravel was applied and the road level raised before it was rendered completely impassable; only temporary closings were required to allow road workers to complete
24-611: The bridge was given to the City of Keokuk in late 1948. The bridge was originally the western terminus of the Toledo, Peoria & Western Railroad . Today, it serves the Keokuk Junction Railway with occasional train crossings for interconnection and river terminal services. Only the Keokuk side of the highway bridge has been converted, the bridge's upper highway deck is abandoned. The river traffic (barges and boats) have
30-508: The job. The Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) and WL Miller Co., a large concrete, quarry and asphalt company, put over 26,000 tons of rock on the eastbound lanes. The bridge approach was lifted about 4–6 feet in some areas. During the cleanup, some of the fairly new road was damaged, and IDOT is considering repaving the eastbound lanes from the bridge to Pats Pit Stop. During the Mississippi River Floods of 2019 ,
36-570: The right-of-way, so the swing section remains open until a train needs to cross the river. On the Illinois side of the bridge, two precast concrete barriers prevent auto traffic from driving on to the old highway section. The bridge was documented as survey number IA-3 by the Historic American Engineering Record , archived in the Library of Congress . Keokuk-Hamilton Bridge The Keokuk-Hamilton bridge
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