BNSF/Frisco Bridge over Gasconade River at Jerome, MO is Flooded

(Bridge Hunter, Satellite)

BNSF railroad posted
Massive flooding has washed away a stretch of the BNSF rail line that links Springfield and St. Louis. Take a look at what the swollen Gasconade River has done to the tracks at Jerome! The river 'usually' flows beneath the iron truss bridge in the background. Photo courtesy Doolittle Rural Fire Protection District.

Looking at the fresh ballast and stone on the east side of the bridge, it appears this part has been washed out before. And you can see a glimpse of water through the truss, so it appears the steel girders part of the bridge is submerged.

Looking at the Bridge Hunter link, Steve Conro caught the river at a higher level than David Backlin did, but it was still a long way from going over the top of the bridge.

TravelBlog

Jerome is along US-66 so Jerry and Rita also caught a picture when the river level was rather low. A Bridge Hunter comment provided a couple of postcard images. It used to be an all-truss bridge that was replaced in 1961 with steel girders except for one Warren Truss span. It also appears a  concrete lining was added to the footings of the cut-stone piers and they added new piers so that the steel girder spans would be shorter.

Amanda Black's postcard colection from a Bridge Hunter comment

Amanda Black's postcard colection from a Bridge Hunter comment

I normally don't bother with a rather small bridge so far away, but this picture puts the following BNSF outages in perspective. This was dated 04/30/2017. It appears the yellow at-risk line needs to be updated to red OOS and that Springfield might now be isolated from rail service. Tom may have used a login to get this map because I was not able to find a more up-to-date version.

BNSF, posted by Tom Meyer