BNSF Trail Bridge Updates

Aug 26, 2005...A story about our BNSF Trail Bridge has appeared on the American Trails website. Click here for the link.

Oct 2, 2004...The BNSF Trail Bridge was dedicated today.
See some Grand Opening photos.
See the Grand Opening Invitation (in Acrobat Reader).
See the Design Team (in Acrobat Reader).

April 19, 2004...Construction began. Weather will determine the construction progress. See BNSF Bridge photos for construction photos.

Feb 17, 2004...After negotiations between the City of Fairfield, the BNSF Railroad, and the Iowa DOT, a bid letting was held for the new bridge over the BNSF tracks.
Godbersen-Smith Construction Co. submitted the winning bid. A TEA-21 grant and a REAP grant will help to pay for the bridge. Godbersen-Smith Construction Co. built the Cedar View Bridge for us in 2002.

New Bridge for the Loop Trail

The Jefferson County Trail Council (JCTC) and the City of Fairfield have been notified by the IDOT that the construction company of Godberson-Smith was the low bidder on the new bridge that is to be built over the BNSF Railroad just east of Chautauqua Park. This is the same company that built the Cedar View Trail Bridge over Cedar Creek a few years ago.

Plans call for a 246-foot pedestrian bridge to be built over the railroad. This will be a very important "link" in the Loop Trail. It will tie in Chautauqua Park to the Walton Lake section of the trail system.

This bridge will be more than just a concrete structure, however. The JCTC received a grant from the National Endowments of the Arts for "artistic" enhancements to the bridge.

Local sculptor Judy Bales has designed the bridge enclosure (the railroad requires that the bridge be fully enclosed with steel framed mesh material) to take on the look of railroad trestles and barn structures. Inspired by Louden Barn Designs, Ms. Bales has worked closely with Fairfield High School art teacher Mark Shafer and his students on this project.

The art class decided to make 171 ceramic plaques with images from old Louden Machinery Company blueprints. The Louden Machinery Company was a major influence on Fairfield and on farming from about 1870 to 1940, and on industrial material handling equipment from about 1920 to the present.

The contractor will begin work on the bridge on April 19.      (Submitted by Ron Meyers)

History of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad in Fairfield

The first railroad arrived in Fairfield in 1858. The Burlington and Missouri River Railroad was absorbed by the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad about 1872.

In 1901 the tracks were dualized and straightened. Eventually it became part of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad, known as the BNSF.

The Jefferson County Conservation Board and the Jefferson County Trails Council recently turned parts of the original sections of the C, B and Q roadbed into recreational trails

• The "back side" of the driveway around Chautauqua Park is on this old roadbed. About 0.3 miles long, you can see more remnants of the old roadbed when you look east from the bottom of the drive.
  A trail bridge, part of the Loop Trail, was recently built across the creek where the railroad once crossed.
• Whitham Woods has a 0.25-mile section running through it from east to southwest. Recently cleared, you can view the original railroad bridge abutments.
  From Highway 34 you can see remnants of the old roadbed just before you cross over Mitchell Creek (look east of the creek).