Kansas City Southern Railroad Bridge, Cross Bayou, Historical railroad bridge in Shreveport, Louisiana.
The Kansas City Southern Railroad Bridge is an A-frame truss bridge over Cross Bayou in downtown Shreveport, about 100 yards east of the Spring Street crossing. Its central span follows John Alexander Low Waddell's 1894 patent, and the original single track remains in place even though the line was abandoned in the late 1980s.
Engineer John Alexander Low Waddell built this structure in the 1890s for a different location in Oklahoma. The bridge was moved to Shreveport and reassembled there in 1926 to serve its new community.
The bridge's central span follows John Alexander Low Waddell's 1894 "A" truss patent, a design also adopted as standard for 65 to 116 ft crossings on Japan's Nippon Railway. The same pattern was repeated along the Kansas City, Pittsburg and Gulf and St. Louis Southwestern lines. The railroad donated the structure to the City of Shreveport in the early 1990s.
The line was abandoned in the late 1980s and the single track is still in place, so the deck is not a maintained pedestrian route. The bridge stands about 100 yards east of the Spring Street crossing in downtown Shreveport, near Clyde Fant Parkway along the Red River. A 2017 survey by the Shreveport Downtown Development Authority examined possible reuse as a greenway.
It is one of only two surviving examples of Waddell's patented A-frame truss design in existence. This rare construction method was a technological achievement that showcased engineering innovation of the era.
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