The Historic Bridges on Mississippi River
The Mississippi River, the largest river in North America, separates Illinois from the neighboring state of Iowa. The Mississippi River spans a variety of terrains and alters its course repeatedly, making life hard for the riverside communities of Illinois. Over the years, construction of crossings to support trade and travel have been at the very heart of the state. In present day Illinois, six bridges remain to provide access back and forth over the Mississippi River.
The first bridge to make an entrance into the Illinois area was the Eads Bridge, constructed in 1874. It is ranked a national historic landmark due to the unique approach that was employed to build it. This bridge had a combination of arch and truss construction, opening the east-west bridge connection across the Mississippi River in St. Louis, Missouri. For its enduring legacy, the Eads Bridge was named a National Historic Landmark in 1964.heaning flood waters drive through the state of Illinois. Despite the perilous task, bridges, magnificent arcs of steel connecting thousands of towns, have been the backbone of Illinois since the 1860s.
The Pearl Harbor Memorial Bridge
The Pearl Harbor Memorial Bridge was built in 1967 to honor the fallen soldiers of the Pearl Harbor attack. It served as a means to connect present day communities together. As a means of memorializing the hundreds of thousands of family members and loved ones who had to experience an abrupt separation from one another, this bridge became an homage to the sacrifices endured by those affected. The Pearl Harbor Memorial Bridge was the fifth crossing to connect the city of East St. Louis, Illinois and the community of Venice, Illinois within the span of 11 years. It was renamed by the Illinois General Assembly in 2002, many years after its completion.
The bridge is a combination of a single-span, steel truss arch, which was painted an orange-red color to represent the volcanoes of Pearl Harbor. It stands 150ft above the river’s water level, with its length measuring 2,863ft. An enlightening part of bridge construction is the process that leads to the different designs. With the Pearl Harbor Memorial Bridge, a high rise truss arch was chosen for its grace and fordability to withstand potential wind and wave forces.
The Stan Musial Veterans Memorial Bridge
The Stan Musial Veterans Memorial Bridge is considered to be the largest and most complex project in the Missouri Department of Transportation’s history. This bridge was approved for construction in 2009 and opened its doors to the general public in 2014. This is a cable-stayed bridge designed to provide support for the alternate route for I-70 in St. Louis, as the traffic flow here constantly changes. This bridge was named after Stan Musial, a former baseball player and a beloved hero of St. Louis, to honor his spirit and recognize the sacrifice he made in service of our nation. It is considered to be the longest cable-stayed bridge found in Missouri.
Without a doubt, the suspension bridge was a fabulous choice for the project considering its astounding construction accuracy. The cable style chosen for the Stan Musial Bridge abuts the design of a self-anchored suspension bridge known for its inversely curved towers for support. It is plated with 35 cables and is the first bridge design implemented making use of the buoyant cable structures. Additionally, its state-of-the-art cable placement system reduces the amount of anchor blocks needed in the bridge, setting an example in the field of suspension bridges.
The Martin Luther King Jr. Bridge
Located between the cities of East St. Louis and St. Louis, the Martin Luther King Jr. Bridge was built in 1936 and opened its doors in 1937. Back in the days when much of the region used to be shut off to African Americans, the bridge served as a cross-river connection carrying African-American laborers to the industrial regions of Collinsville, Madison, and Granite City. It lived up to its potential and served as a connection for many ever since, modifying from its initialWarren truss structure format.
In 2009, the Martin Luther King Jr. Bridge was brought to the spotlight for a series of renovations. In the duration of a year, this four-lane bridge was restored to its grandeur of the golden era, transforming from an unreliable gateway to a new definition of excellence. This involved the addition of traffic lights at both ends of the bridge, a complete makeover of the railings, guard rails and platforms, and unique lighting features. This bridge remains as one of the few expressions of a Warren truss structure, at the heart of one of the greatest cities in the USA.
The Poplar Street Bridge
This bridge connects the states of Missouri and Illinois and connects the downtowns of St. Louis to East St. Louis. It was first built in 1967 and was a cable-stayed bridge framed with pre-stressed concrete units. It was a two-lane bridge that was owned, criticized, and feared by its nearby inhabitants, due to its outdated and hazardous structure. This structure was cheaper as it made use of relatively cheaper concrete units as opposed to steel.
However, in 1994, due to the hazardous and deteriorating condition of the old bridge, a new bridge was built, with traffic switching over to the new bridge in 2000. This new Poplar Street Bridge is a ten-lane bridge and is one of the largest bridges in Illinois. The bridge is connected via the arterials of U.S. Route 40 and Interstate 70, with the latest advancement featuring the introduction of a streetcar line in 2014.
The Champions Memorial Bridge
This is an enforced structure locally known as the ‘Champion’s Memorial Bridge’ and is often confused with the Champions Bridge. Incredibly, the Original Champions Memorial Bridge was built in 1917, completely reconstructing the original bridge, making it an outstanding engineering project. It was the first bridge over the Mississippi River to be built without the assistance of a lock and dam. It was, however, pulled down in 1940 when an alternate route was constructed nearby.
After a long period of waiting and uncertainty, the Champions Memorial Bridge was rebuilt in 2012, at a cost of $80 million. The structure was built with the assistance of steel constructed from Terex Demag. It is made up of steel beams, girders, and reinforced concrete that serves as the foundation, allowing the bridge to stay afloat in spite of the potential shifting of the river course. This bridge offers an anchor point for the existing transportation network that provides access to the towns of East St. Louis and Granite City.
The MacArthur Bridge
In 1969, the MacArthur Bridge was opened to traffic, providing an alternate route over the Mississippi River. It is a steel truss-bridge with its length measuring 3252ft and a main span of 658ft. This bridge is a sister structure to the Eads Bridge and is equipped with two lanes in each direction and two sidewalks. Of the six bridges over the river, the MacArthur Bridge is the only highway bridge on this axis.
Despite a decrease in the traffic volume due to economic slumps, the bridge continues to maintain its status as one of the busiest bridges of the country, with the number of people crossing it rising by the day. The MacArthur Bridge serves as the connection for Interstate 70, Interstate 255, and the River des Peres Greenway, allowing these primary roads to take cars along freeways and roads positioned alongside the riverbank.
Conclusion
The six bridges over the Mississippi River in Illinois provide a unique connection across the state, standing as profound examples of civil engineering and design. From Warrentruss bridges to cable-stayed bridges, the six bridges bridge over the Mississippi River are a lasting part of Illinois’ landscape.
