Today is the last day for tolls on the Burt County toll bridge (Decatur, NE)

[DandyDan]

Tolls end at midnight tonight for the bridge between Decatur, Nebraska and Onawa, Iowa (NE 51 and IA 175).  Incidentally, I believe the following article gets the history of the bridge wrong, because I was always on the understanding they built the bridge but then a flood changed the channel of the Missouri River at that location after it was built.
http://www.omaha.com/article/20131129/NEWS/131128617

[NE2]

1936 and 1949 aerials show the river east of the bridge, but in a place that would have made it impossible to build the bridge without rerouting the river first: http://www.historicaerials.com/aerials.php?scale=5&lat=42.006&lon=-96.238&year=1936 (yes, some silly sod drew the bridge on the aerial for whatever reason)
This probably means that the river shifted before construction.

[Jardine]

Bridge was built over a channel recently vacated by the river.  Army Corp of Engineers did not move the river back for a few years after it was completed as Congress did not appropriate the $$$ due to the Korean War.  The delay was a little rough on the private investors that financed construction.

The east approach of the bridge was threatened for virtually the entire 100+ days of the 2011 flood.  IIRC, over 250,000 tons of rock were used to stabilize the situation.  The river cut down 80 feet below grade in places near the abutment.

It was quite a battle and until the flood was over, victory was not a given.  That old Missouri River remains a worthy adversary for any one charged to fight it.

It's a great old bridge, I love the metal grid deck and all the steel work.  Biggest problem is the 24 foot width, it is real tight for the larger trucks.

I'm also fond of Iowa Hiway 175, it goes to some places I really liked.  If only the road could take me there 30 years ago . . .