More Trailbuilding Resources

Resources and Library:

Cool Trail Solutions

Recycled railroad bridges for trails

Rails to trails projects typically include the rehabilitation and retrofitting of bridges. Railway engineers in America built an amazing number of bridges, spanning small creeks and great chasms. The “Walkway Over the Hudson” National Recreation Trail in New York is one of the largest. When railroads are abandoned the bridges may or may not be left in place. Sometimes the steel bridges are scrapped along with the rails. Light-duty branch lines often have wood trestles which may have been burned or damaged by floods. However, in most cases the cost of removing bridges is greater than their scrap value and when a corridor is railbanked the bridges are left intact. In converting them to pathways, the main concerns are new decks and railings. In most cases the bridge structure, built to carry 100-ton locomotives, is far more solid than needed for bicycle and pedestrian use. The following examples of bridges come from several parts of the country. For the ultimate recycled railroad bridge see New York's Walkway over the Hudson.

Click on any photo to see it full size:

(Commentary and photos by Stuart Macdonald, September 2009)

Bureau of Land Management is the trail managing agency for the Row River rail trail in Oregon; photo by Stuart Macdonald, August 30, 2008.

Steel trestle reused on the Row River Trail, Cottage Grove, Oregon; photo by Stuart Macdonald, August 30, 2008.

Detail of deck and railings on railroad bridge, Row River Trail, Cottage Grove, Oregon; photo by Stuart Macdonald, August 30, 2008.

Crescent Trail bridge over C & O Canal; photo by Stuart Macdonald, June 16, 2007.

Detail of chain link railing material on Crescent Trail, Waahington DC; photo by Stuart Macdonald, June 16, 2007.

Approach railings on Crescent Trail bridge over C & O Canal; photo by Stuart Macdonald, June 16, 2007.

Crescent Trail bridge over Rock Creek, Bethesda, MD; photo by Stuart Macdonald, June 16, 2007.

High trestle and girder bridge carries Crescent Trail bridge over Rock Creek, Bethesda, MD; photo by Stuart Macdonald, June 16, 2007.

New steel railing structure was added to Crescent Trail bridge over Rock Creek; photo by Stuart Macdonald, June 16, 2007.

Deck on Rock Creek bridge showing widened viewing area, Bethesda, MD; photo by Stuart Macdonald, June 16, 2007.

The bridge was built in 1902 to carry the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. Bridge abutments are made of local Guilford granite which was used to construct many other bridges and culverts on B & O lines. Long abandoned, the bridge was rescued by the Howard County Dept. of Recreation and Parks. It opened as a trail Nov. 2, 2002-- 100 years after it was built. photo by Stuart Macdonald, Nov. 16, 2006

Patuxent Branch Trail is a rails-to-trails conversion west of Baltimore, MD; interpretive sign tells more about the bridge structure and its history.

Wood railings and deck make the historic railroad bridge usabile by bikes and walkers; Howard County, MD; photo by Stuart Macdonald, Nov. 16, 2006.

The Patuxent Branch bridge 100 years after it was built in 1902: still intact and sturdy enough to suppport rails to trails conversion; Howard County, MD

Mississippi River Trail in Davenport, IA shares right-of-way with active railroad line; photo by Stuart Macdonald, Nov. 19, 2006.

Old raliroad bridge on the Baltimore & Annapolis Trail; photo by Stuart Macdonald, November 2006.

Raliroad bridge originally carried trains over Round Bay Road on the Baltimore & Annapolis Trail; photo by Stuart Macdonald, November 2006.

Raliroad bridge originally carried trains over Round Bay Road on the Baltimore & Annapolis Trail in Maryland; photo by Stuart Macdonald, November 2006.

Original concrete railroad bridge, now Burke Gilman Trail, Seattle; photo by Stuart Macdonald, July 15, 2007.