Bridge Name: | Ottawa Rail Bridge |
Official Name: | Ottawa Rail Bridge |
Carries: | Illinois Railway |
Crosses: | Illinois River |
Locale: | Ottawa, Illinois |
Maint: | Illinois Department of Transportation |
Design: | Steel truss with lift span |
Width: | 1 track |
Height: | 21feet above water, 480feet above sea level |
Open: | 1898 |
Coordinates: | 41.3417°N -88.8469°W |
The Ottawa Rail Bridge is a railroad bridge spanning the Illinois River in the municipality of Ottawa, LaSalle County, Illinois. The first rail crossing on this site was constructed in 1871 by the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad, along a route leased from the Ottawa, Oswego and Fox River Valley Railroad between Ottawa and Streator, Illinois. The current bridge was constructed in 1898 by the King Bridge Company and altered in 1932 to include a vertical-lift span designed by Waddell & Harrington.[1] The Illinois Railway now operates trains over the bridge on its Ottawa Branch between Streator and Montgomery, Illinois.[2]