1893,2013 Bellefontaine Bridge over Missouri River near the Mouth

(Archived Bridge Hunter; Historic Bridges; HAER; Satellite)

BridgeHunter also included this HAER, but that is of a bridge in Nebraska, not Missouri!

HistoricBridges rates this bridge as 9/10 national and 10/10 locally. It is one of the few bridges left that was designed by George Morison, who Nathan calls "one of the greatest engineers in American history...who built some of the first major river, long-span metal truss bridges in America. Visit the Frisco Bridge page to learn more about Morison."

HAER MO,95-SALU.V,1--3
3. EAST WEB, SHOWING PIERS AND SHORELINE; VIEW TO NORTH - Bellefontaine Bridge, Saint Louis, Independent City, MO
Meet Me In Old St. Louis posted

This railroad bridge is the last one over the Missouri River before it meets the Mississippi. 🌉

The Bellefontaine Bridge was designed by engineer George S. Morison for the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad. Construction began on July 4, 1892, and it opened on December 27, 1893. It carries trains on four trusses of about 440 feet each, built in the Baltimore style on masonry piers set on caissons down to bedrock.

It links St. Louis County and St. Charles County, and BNSF Railway owns and runs it today. Morison also designed the Merchants Bridge over the Mississippi, which opened a few years earlier.

The photo is an overall view of the bridge and the Missouri River, looking northwest, taken for the Historic American Engineering Record. 🚂

Each truss is about 55 feet tall with 16 panels, and the engineering record includes 31 photographs of the structure.

Have you ever watched a train cross it?

 

HAER MO,95-SALU.V,1--31zzz
31. Photocopy of historic photograph, photographer unknown, date unknown. TRAIN PASSING THROUGH SPAN AT NORTH END OF BRIDGE

Only two of the four cut-stone piers have needed reinforcement so far.

Street View, Jul 2022

The approach on the north side is a viaduct over a flood plain. According to a comment by Al Bertram on BridgeHunter, it was rebuilt and the piers were capped around 2014.

Street View, Oct 2022

Street View, May 2013

This view shows that the flood plain does get wet.

Street View, Jul 2015
Aug 2019 and Jan 2022 also have standing water in the field.

Given that the river was high in Jul 2015, I went back and got a view of the main channel back then.

Street View, Jul 2015

safe_image for 1893: A Newly Built Railroad Bridge in Missouri Passes a Crucial Test
Photo Credit: Library of Congress
"The Bellefontaine Bridge was one of the first bridges to incorporate what is known as the Baltimore truss design."

pdf, p 6 via archive via BridgeHunter
The Bellefontaine Bridge: a report to Charles E. Perkins, president of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad [published 1894]