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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 17, 1984)
Monday, December 17, 1934 Pago 14 Daily Nebraskan t r? o n ti m m a . 1(11 ULP ViUlfc)iiVL 11 By Kevin Dsigaa Daily Nebrasktn Staff Reporter Fog obscured the view of most spectators who turned out Sat urday to watch the demolition of the 06-year-old Burlington North ern Railroad Bridge which spanned the Missouri River at Nebraska City. Officials said the unused bridge was destroyed to relieve Burling ton Northern of maintenance re- sponsibilities. The bridge was one of the last of its kind in the country, said Sam Riter, project manager for Martin Explosives Inc., the company which undertook the demolition. Theyjust don't make them like that anymore," he said. "You could drive every back road from now until you die and be lucky to come across another like that one." F.AST NEW ORLEANS M 1 ii JJ At intersection of 1-10 and Hwy 90 , Only 5 mins from Supcrdomc SUGAR BOWL SPECIAL! $149.77 double occupancy 4 Days and 3 Nights OR S49.77 Single $55.77 Double per night Call 1-800-251-9752 for reservations Jaccuzzis, king beds suites available hidson automotive. tartnrv train pH factory trained foreign car specialists 27th & T Lincoln, Nebraska 475-9022 I 1 " !' Decorate Your Holiday with UNL Bookstore's Christmas Savings! Edward Lyon, 89, who painted the bridge as a young boy and whose father collected tolls, had the honor of setting off the explo sion. He said originally the bridge serviced a 7-mile stub-run be tween Nebraska City and Payen Junction, Iowa. "From there you could hook-up with the main line between Kansas City and Omaha," he said. He said the bridge was built for the Burlington-Missouri Railroad, which made 10 trips every 24 hours across with pas sengers and freight. t Lyon said the bridge was planked for pedestrians and horses until the U.S. Hwy. 2 span was constructed in 1932. "Tolls cost a nickel if you walked, 40 cents for single horse buggies and 50 cents for team and wife," he said. Riter said it was "an interest ing bridge to work on because of its massiveness." The steel was two inches thick in places, he said, and they estimated about 1 ,500 tons of steel were contained in the entire structure. That's 3 million pounds of metal "Who knows what went through the engineer's mind 100 years ago?" Riter said. Cutting torches were used to separate the bridge into sections and cut off extraneous parts like webbing, the criss-crossed pat terns seen on bridges and other braces of lower gauged metal, Rite said. He said they cut around stress areas, saving those parts for the explosives. Continued on Pag 21 ml, .Vi,il..;.. .. v I'M j - V s He- i 1 1 ' u " VjL 1 I a,cts1K, 'a f b u Ktvln DussnDcily Ntbratkin Daley wraps bridge explosives in plastic 50 feet above the Missouri ifiver Thursday during the outset of a winter storm. J I 11 . TV tj A ' M ("-:;-,vV fConvenienfi .v--- ( Campus J --Jj - J - Explosive3 left the U.S. Highway 2 bridge standing and the I rfrvA----f Burlington Northern bridge partially submerged in icy J fOWCOl waters near Nebraska City. )AY L 1 -1 (u K J Hi 1 v. l . : , I Christmas Gifts 1985 alendars -ft c 5 OFF TUESDAY, DEC. 18th Excludes school supplies, cosmetics, tobacco products, film processing 01 DOOKS City Union 8-6 East Union 8:30-5:00 AT THE MOSTCOTWE I " F ji-niri ""-'P' in..'"r in iiwiii i r n in irn inn I L. li l . I . I 1 I It1 III f ii . . i. . . . . . . ti. .1 JL. .11. . . . . 1 1 MnuSy AJ "A Frank We Can All Afford" You Ato Horn l1sny?S FSQTLOIUGe YOU CAPJ EAT OfJLY LZI3 O EUEP1Y TUESDAY p.m. Special Includes: All Toppings, One Medium Drink One bag of Chips (Your Choice) No take out orders please Lower Leve! - Citv Union uuvui - cast unsun c HOURS: Sun.-Thurs.9a.m.-11 p.m. Fri.-Sat. 9 a.m.-Midnight 13S0 Qetrcst Having trouble finding us? We're still here, behind the baricsdas, on good old u to serve you!