Update: The new bridge is now complete.

I figured it was about time to get back out to the McKinley Bridge to survey the progress of reconstruction of the Merchants Bridge.

Back in October of 2021, only the furthest east of the three trusses had been replaced, so I figured they were probably fairly far along on the second, middle one.

As I suspected, and I’m glad I got out there this weekend, they were done with the middle truss and the cranes and other apparatuses had been moved to the west in order to start on the third and final span. Unlike, the first time I visited, the original truss had already been removed from the construction site or was not otherwise in view.

Further downriver, however, the third and final replacement truss is already constructed, ready to be relatively quickly winched into place. The whole purpose and method of rebuilding of the bridge was to keep rail service interruption to a minimum; in fact, since there seems to be a pause in construction, I actually saw a freight train pass over the bridge the day I was out photographing.

The new truss sits patiently on a barge once the old one has been removed.