TIME LAPSE: First train crosses new CRANDIC bridge

Besides its cargo of Iowa corn, the train that eased Friday across the Cedar Rapids and Iowa City (CRANDIC) railroad bridge over the Cedar River brought a flood-recovery milestone of sorts.

The delivery to Penford Products was the first revenue train to cross the river since the CRANDIC's 105-year-old span collapsed June 12, 2008, creating one of the flood's iconic images.

"Twenty thousand of the 80,000 to 85,000 cars a year we moved were going over that bridge," said marketing manager Jeff Woods. "That disappeared in a second."

This week's completion of the $9 million replacement span is a step toward normalcy, but a slumping economy and the flood are still felt, Woods said.

The bridge links the CRANDIC's lines south of downtown with the Iowa Northern Railway and the Canadian National routes that enter the city from the north.

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