Chicago Northwestern Bridge

St. Paul Union Pacific Rail Bridge, also known as the Hoffman Swing Bridge, is a swing bridge that spans the Mississippi River between South Saint Paul, Minnesota and Saint Paul, Minnesota in the United States. It was built in 1910 by the St. Paul Bridge and Terminal Railway, and was rebuilt in 1925, after a flood in 1951, and again in 1982.

The Union Pacific Railroad mainline from Des Moines, informally known as the "Spine Line", enters the Twin Cities area and terminates in a yard in South Saint Paul. This line was formerly part of the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad. From this area, traffic to downtown St. Paul takes two routes: one across this bridge, with yards on the east side of the river south of Dayton's Bluff; and the other route using the St. Paul Union Pacific Vertical-lift Rail Bridge into downtown St. Paul.

On October 26, 2017, a towboat struck a stationary bridge pier. The towboat was the “Cooperative Venture,” owned by American River Transportation Company. It was moving several barges with dry goods but nothing was spilled. Repairs begin shortly afterward. Traffic was routed to the St. Paul Union Pacific Vertical-lift Rail Bridge, and other locations.

On August 8, 2018, a train carrying oil across the bridge derailed, puncturing a oil tanker car and spilling 3,200 gallons of oil into the Mississippi River.

Text imported from Wikipedia article "St. Paul Union Pacific Rail Bridge" and modified on July 23, 2019 according to the CC-BY-SA 4.0 International license.