Carroll County Road 314 Overpass

Located between Bosworth and Carrollton, this large through truss bridge once carried Carroll County Road 314 across the BNSF mainline. As the ATSF double tracked the line between Chicago and Kansas City, many grade crossings were removed, either by constructing an underpass or an overpass. At this location, the railroad is set into a deep cut, necessitating an overpass. This bridge was built in 1911, reusing a 164-foot, 9-panel pin-connected Pratt through truss, set onto concrete substructures. The truss utilizes a unique portal with two lattice sections, and the members of the truss are lightly constructed with solid members. The truss span appears to have been fabricated by the Edge Moor Bridge Works in approximately 1887, which fabricated a number of spans for the ATSF as the ATSF constructed a new line across Missouri and Illinois. This style portal has been seen on other Edge Moor fabricated bridges for other railroads as well. It appears that the bridge received relatively few alterations upon relocation, with the original floor system intact.

Railroads often reused steel and iron spans for roadway use and for overpasses. This allowed the railroad to save costs on ordering new spans, and minimized the engineering required, as a railroad span could safely handle roadway traffic. Occasionally, spans were moved short distances from their original locations and received little alterations, such as this bridge. Other spans were constructed using spare parts, and were extensively rebuilt to serve roadway use. While hundreds of these overpasses once existed throughout the United States, the number has begun to dwindle in recent years. In particular, these spans are often too narrow, have unsuitable decks and have little documentation about the condition or the history of the spans. In 2020, BNSF replaced this bridge. As part of the replacement, a local landowner asked about acquiring the structure, and was given the span for free. After the bridge was removed from the abutments, it was placed onto the ground southeast of the original location. During the removal and placement on private property, the owner was told that the bridge was originally fabricated in 1887 as part of a bridge across the Grand River along this line between Bosworth and Snyder. Another identical truss span crosses the same BNSF line in Sibley, Missouri. It seems possible that these two spans are related, and were reused from the same location.

While many of these overpasses are scrapped upon removal, this bridge is an excellent example of a railroad giving away a span. As bridge preservation efforts have increased in recent years, railroads are often willing to work with other agencies or property owners to donate historic bridge spans. While larger projects often have a formal notice of work and advertisements to acquire a span, this bridge was not advertised. The author hopes that replacement of these bridges is advertised in the future, as it allows agencies and property owners instigate the feasibility of acquiring a span. The author commends the landowner for acquiring the span, and hopes that it will continue to remain intact for years to come. Overall, the bridge appeared to be in fair condition at the time of replacement, with deterioration to the deck and substructures. The author has ranked this bridge as being regionally significant, due to the older age, reuse and preservation.