The A-S-B bridge is pictured while it was still under construction in the early 1900s. The post card, which identifies the span as the North Kansas City Bridge, was mailed in 1915, four years after the bridge was completed. Apparently only the upper level of the structure had been completed when the picture was made. Trains were accommodated on the lower level. Until the bridge was built, ferry boats were used for transportation across the river. The tolls charged to use the bridge were about the same as those previously charged by the Annie Cade Ferry: foot passengers, 5 cents; bicycle and rider, 5 cents; horse and rider, 10 cents; horses, mules and cattle per head, 10 cents; sheep, hogs and calves per head, 3 cents; one-horse vehicle, 20 cents; two-horse vehicle, 25 cents; three-horse vehicle, 30 cents; four-horse vehicle, 35 cents; automobile, one seat, 20 cents; automobile, two-seat, 25 cents; trucks, 35 cents; circus and menagerie wagons, 40 cents; threshing machines, 40 cents; extra passengers on vehicles, 5 cents. A staff of 11 men collected fares. The tolls were discontinued in 1927. The bridge opened a new trade territory for Kansas City, with easy access to towns north of the river, such as North Kansas City, Liberty, Excelsior Springs, Richmond, Carrollton, Chillicothe, Plattsburg, Cameron, Hamilton, Platte City and St. Joseph. Today the structure is still in use, but is being replaced by a new bridge located just east of the old one. Kansas City Times, October 15, 1982.
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