The Martin Luther King Bridge (formerly known as the Veterans Bridge) in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...

, is a cantilever truss bridge of about in total length across the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...

, connecting St. Louis with

East St. Louis, Illinois East St. Louis is a city in St. Clair County, Illinois. It is directly across the Mississippi River from Downtown St. Louis, Missouri and the Gateway Arch National Park. East St. Louis is in the Metro-East region of Southern Illinois. Once a b ...

. Opened in 1951, the bridge serves as traffic relief connecting the

concurrent Concurrent means happening at the same time. Concurrency, concurrent, or concurrence may refer to: Law * Concurrence, in jurisprudence, the need to prove both ''actus reus'' and ''mens rea'' * Concurring opinion (also called a "concurrence"), a ...

freeways of

Interstate 55 Interstate 55 (I-55) is a major Interstate Highway in the central United States. As with most primary Interstates that end in a five, it is a major cross-country, north–south route, connecting the Gulf of Mexico to the Great Lakes. The h ...

Interstate 64 Interstate 64 (I-64) is an east–west Interstate Highway in the Eastern United States. Its western terminus is at I-70, U.S. Route 40 (US 40), and US 61 in Wentzville, Missouri. Its eastern terminus is at an interchange w ...

, and U.S. Route 40 with the downtown streets of St. Louis. It was renamed for King in 1968 after the national civil rights leader was assassinated that year.

History

The bridge was built across the Mississippi River in 1951 as the Veterans' Memorial Bridge to relieve congestion on the MacArthur Bridge to the south. Built as a toll bridge, it was owned by the City of East St. Louis. At one time, it carried U.S. Route 40 and

U.S. Route 66 U.S. Route 66 or U.S. Highway 66 (US 66 or Route 66) was one of the original highways in the United States Numbered Highway System. It was established on November 11, 1926, with road signs erected the following year. The h ...

across the river. In 1967, the bridge fell into disrepair after the (free)

Poplar Street Bridge The Congressman William L. Clay Sr. Bridge, formerly known as the Bernard F. Dickmann Bridge and popularly as the Poplar Street Bridge or PSB, completed in 1967, is a deck girder bridge across the Mississippi River between St. Louis, Missouri, ...

was completed; traffic moved to the new bridge, resulting in declining toll revenues needed for maintenance. Eventually, ownership was transferred dually to the

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

and

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

departments of Transportation. The bridge was renamed after

Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist, one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968 ...

in 1968, after the national civil rights leader's April 1968 assassination in

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...

. In 1987, the states removed the toll for travel across the bridge. A bi-state project for about $24 million to renovate the bridge, at the behest of local civic and government leaders, was carried out in the late 1980s. In the spring of 1989, the rebuilt bridge was reopened. In June 1990, the lighting of the bridge was completed by the St. Louis Port Authority. In the 21st century, it is considered an important contributor to satisfying the transportation needs of the region and enhancing the ambiance of the historic St. Louis riverfront. On October 12, 2009, the bridge was closed in order to reduce the old four-lane configuration down to three wider lanes, install a waterproofing membrane over the bridge surfac
Martin Luther King Bridge To Reopen Early After Repairs - KTVI
and to install a concrete barrier to separate eastbound traffic from westbound. Over the previous six years, there had been 38 serious accidents, including several involving fatalities. The $1.4 million project was aimed at eliminating these head-on collisions in the future. The bridge re-opened on October 21, 2009. After the new Stan Musial Veterans Memorial Bridge opened in February 2014 across the river, daily traffic volume on the King bridge had decreased by 40% by April 2014 to 12,700 daily. This was one of the goals of construction of the new bridge: to distribute traffic more widely among the bridges and associated roadways, improving traffic patterns. In October 2018, the bridge was closed to all traffic to allow an extensive rehabilitation project to take place. Among other things, this project would replace the deck surface and put a fresh coat of pavement on the roadway, as well as replacing the extensively deteriorated eastern approach spans, and repainting the entire bridge. The bridge was originally expected to reopen to traffic in January 2019. However, due to flooding, the date of reopening was pushed to summer of 2020. The bridge eventually reopened on August 19, 2020.

Gallery

Image:I-70 in downtown St. Louis.jpg, Looking north along

Interstate 44 Interstate 44 (I-44) is a major Interstate Highway in the central United States. Although it is nominally an east–west road as it is even-numbered, it follows a more southwest–northeast alignment. Its western terminus is in Wichita Fal ...

, with the interchange for the west end of the bridge in the middleground Image:MLK Memorial Bridge.jpg, Martin Luther King Jr. Bridge

Route 799

The

half of the bridge is designated as unsigned Route 799 by the Missouri Department of Transportation.

References

External links

Bridge info
at Historic Bridges of the Midwest.
maps.google.com
zoomed in, hybrid mode {{Structures in Greater St. Louis Road bridges in Illinois Bridges over the Mississippi River East St. Louis, Illinois Bridges on U.S. Route 66 Bridges completed in 1951 Bridges in St. Louis Bridges in St. Clair County, Illinois Road bridges in Missouri U.S. Route 40 Former toll bridges in Illinois Former toll bridges in Missouri Concrete bridges in the United States Cantilever bridges in the United States Interstate vehicle bridges in the United States

History

Gallery

Route 799

See also

References

External links