Location: River Rouge, MI - Rouge River Drawbridge (MC-NYC-Conrail SA)

This double track Strauss single-leaf bascule bridge was originally used by the New York Central railroad on their line between Detroit and Toledo.  It is 125 feet clear span with a square crossing.  It provided for two tracks and was designed for Cooper's E-70 loading with full impact allowance.   It replaced an existing swing bridge which was erected in 1887 when the Rouge River was widened to accommodate lake freighter traffic to Ford's Rouge complex.  The project was paid for with an appropriation of Congress in the sum of $490,000.  The total cost of the project was $541,000.  The channel depth below is 21 feet below the normal water level.  Information from Railway Age, 9/17/1920.

Photo info: Top, the bridge in 1988 under Conrail ownership. At this time, Amtrak ran a train once each day between Toledo and Detroit. [Charlie Whipp]. 2nd photo a 2003 shot looking north at the approach to the bridge. [Dale Berry]. 3rd photo, a close up photo of the bridge's interlocking tower in 2004. The counter-weight for the bridge is at the right of the photo. [Nathan Nietering],

4th photo is a view taken from the top of the new MC/NYC bridge about 1919. The track to the right is the MC and its Delta Yard. The line to the left is the NYC. At the time of the photo, the lines were jointly operated with southbound traffic using the NYC and northbound traffic using the MC. [Detroit Historical Society photo].

5th photo is the Conrail track diagram for the Bridge interlocking in 1993. 6th photo, taken from the west looking east. [Dale Berry]. 7th photo, the model board at the Bridge interlocking tower in 2003. [Dan Maners photo]

Note

For a description and photo of the previous 1877 bridge at this location, click here.

Time Line

1887. Described by the LS&MS railroad as an iron Pratt truss swing bridge, built in 1887, 165 feet long, 13 feet above water, 16 feet depth of water. Hand power. [MCR-1895]

1903. In 1903, this was a swing drawbridge of 165 in length, built in 1887. It was a Pratt truss iron bridge, 13 feet above the water line (with 16 feet deep water). It was swung by hand power. [MCR-1904]

1912. The railroad commission approves reconstruction of the interlocking lant of the MCRR and LS&MS railways at River Rouge Draw Bridge. [MCR-1912]

1920. A new swing bridge here replaces the former 1887 bridge (see above). This bridge was replaced in conjunction with the widening of the Rouge River near the Ford works.

1926. The Wabash railway installs a new crossing/junction interlocking with 19 electric levers. This is in addition to the existing 15-lever machine. [RSC-1927]

1952. December 14. A lake freighter plowed into a tanker loaded with 546,000- gallons of high-test Ethyl gasoline in the River Rouge. The Rouge was covered with gasoline between the New York Central railroad drawbridge and the outlet of the river. Traffic across downstream bridges was halted because of the fire hazard. Firemen stood watch along the banks hosing the river's surface to flush the gasoline into the open water of the Detroit River. No one was injured.

The tanker, the Blue Comet, a 254 foot diesel owned by the McWilliams Blue Line of New York, has loaded gasoline at Toledo. She had 15 men aboard. The freighter was the Carl W. Meyers, a 406 foot steamboat owned by the T.H. Browning Steamship Co. of Detroit. It had just unloaded coal at the Ford plant and was heading down the river empty, bound for Toledo. She had a crew of 32. [DFP-1952-1214]

2019. The bridge tower is closed and the bridge is remotely controlled by Conrail Shared Assets train dispatchers in Mount Laurel, NJ.