Bridge Name: | Nebraska City Bridge |
Official Name: | Nebraska City Bridge |
Other Name: | Missouri River Bridge |
Carries: | / |
Crosses: | Missouri River |
Locale: | Nebraska City, Nebraska |
Design: | Box girder bridge |
Material: | Concrete |
Maint: | Iowa Department of Transportation |
Coordinates: | 40.6711°N -95.8303°W |
The Nebraska City Bridge is a four-lane girder bridge over the Missouri River connecting Otoe County, Nebraska with Fremont County, Iowa at Nebraska City, Nebraska.
The bridge built in 1986 bypasses the central business district and replaced the Waubonsie Bridge truss bridge which opened in 1930 and went towards the middle of town. The Waubonsie Bridge built by the Kansas City Bridge Company called itself "The Bridge with a State park at Each End" because Arbor Lodge State Park was on the Nebraska side and Waubonsie State Park was on the Iowa side.
The Waubonsie Bridge replaced a pontoon bridge built in 1888 that claimed to be the largest drawbridge of its kind in the world. The pontoon bridge was more than 2000feet long and the middle of the bridge could swing open providing a 528feet-wide passage.
Local usage refers to the new bridge just as "the Missouri River Bridge."
The bridge was constructed as part of a highway plan to provide four-lane access between Lincoln, Nebraska and Interstate 29 in Iowa. The bridge connects Nebraska Highway 2 with Iowa Highway 2.
The bridge was closed to all traffic in April 2019 as a result of the 2019 Midwestern U.S. floods. The bridge reopened with one lane of travel in each direction on August 1, 2019.[1]