CP Fox River Bridge (Elgin)

Located immediately south of US Route 20 on the south side of Elgin, this deck plate girder bridge once the Metra Milwaukee District West over the Fox River. The first bridge at this location was likely a wooden truss, constructed when the railroad line was built. In 1881, the bridge would be replaced with a new iron deck girder bridge. This bridge consisted of six 84-foot deck plate girder spans, set onto stone substructures. The girders were fabricated by Edge Moor Iron Works. In 1905, the bridge would be reconstructed by combining the six spans into three double strength spans, and installing three new spans on the east end. At this time, the stone substructures were capped with concrete. In 1926, the bridge would again be rebuilt, and three new spans installed to replace the double strength spans. The old spans were reused at Bridge #M-502 near Dunnville, Wisconsin and at Bridge #Q-38 near Hokah, Minnesota. Further repairs were made to the substructures in 1941, giving the bridge its final configuration.

The bridge consisted of six 84-foot deck plate girder spans, set onto stone and concrete substructures. The girder spans of the bridge utilized a standard design, and were set on a 30-degree skew. Reconstructions such as the 1905 work were common for the Milwaukee Road, as it reduced the amount of new material required for a bridge reconstruction. Deck plate girder spans were among the most popular bridge design for railroad use, as the design was simple, durable and easy to construct. Since the late 1890s, this bridge had been a gauntlet bridge, where two tracks share the space of one. At some point in the second half of the 20th Century, the gauntlet was removed. As a result, this bridge became a bottleneck for Metra, and replacement planning began in the 2010s. Construction on a new bridge began in 2017, by constructing a new structure immediately downstream. In 2020, the old bridge would be removed, and the second track of the new bridge constructed in its place. At the time of replacement, the bridge was in fair to poor condition, and no longer feasible to maintain for continued use. The author has ranked this bridge as being locally significant, due to the common design.