The McKinley Bridge is a steel

truss bridge A truss bridge is a bridge whose load-bearing superstructure is composed of a truss, a structure of connected elements, usually forming triangular units. The connected elements (typically straight) may be stressed from tension, compression, or ...

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 fl ...

. It connects northern portions of the city of

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

with

Venice, Illinois Venice is a city in Madison County, Illinois, United States. The population was 1,890 at the 2010 census. History Venice was platted in 1841. Geography Venice is located at (38.673796, -90.167885). According to the 2010 census, Venice has a to ...

. It opened in 1910 and was taken out of service on October 30, 2001. The bridge was reopened for pedestrian and bicyclists on November 17, 2007 with a grand re-opening celebration. Since December 2007, McKinley has been open to vehicular traffic as well. It is accessible from

Illinois Route 3 Illinois Route 3 (IL 3) is a major north–south arterial state highway in southwestern Illinois. It has its southern terminus at Cairo Junction (about north of Cairo) at the intersection of U.S. Route 51 (US 51) and Illinois Ro ...

in Illinois and from the intersection of Salisbury and North 9th Street in the city of St. Louis. The bridge carried both railroad and vehicular traffic across the Mississippi River for decades. By 1978, the railroad line over the span was closed, and an additional set of lanes was opened for vehicles in the inner roadway. The McKinley Bridge was the first alignment of

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 Mississippi. It is commonly assumed that the bridge was named for President

William McKinley William McKinley (January 29, 1843September 14, 1901) was the 25th president of the United States, serving from 1897 until his assassination in 1901. As a politician he led a realignment that made his Republican Party largely dominant in ...

; but in reality, it was named for the builder, William B. McKinley, chief executive of the Illinois Traction System interurban electric railway, which accessed St. Louis via the bridge.

Usage

The current alignment of the bridge carries two lanes of traffic on the inner lanes. The outer lane on the north side of the bridge will become an exclusive service lane, while the outer lane on the south side of the bridge will become a sidewalk and bike path. It is expected to carry 14,000 vehicles across the river daily, but total traffic across the river increased in 2014 by 7.4% over 2013 levels, and in April 2014, it was estimated that 17,000 vehicles use it daily.

History

The designer of the bridge was

Polish-American Polish Americans ( pl, Polonia amerykańska) are Americans who either have total or partial Polish ancestry, or are citizens of the Republic of Poland. There are an estimated 9.15 million self-identified Polish Americans, representing about 2.83% ...

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the limit ...

Ralph Modjeski Ralph Modjeski (born Rudolf Modrzejewski; January 27, 1861 – June 26, 1940) was a Polish-American civil engineer who achieved prominence as "America's greatest bridge builder." Life He was born in Bochnia, called Galicia at the time, on Janu ...

. It was constructed by Missouri Valley Bridge & Iron Co. and Pennsylvania Steel Co. When the

US Highway System The United States Numbered Highway System (often called U.S. Routes or U.S. Highways) is an integrated network of roads and highways numbered within a nationwide grid in the contiguous United States. As the designation and numbering of these h ...

was instituted in 1926, the McKinley Bridge carried the famous Route 66 across the Mississippi River for four years until a new alignment took the route over

Chain of Rocks Bridge The old Chain of Rocks Bridge spans the Mississippi River on the north edge of St. Louis, Missouri. The eastern end of the bridge is on Chouteau Island (part of Madison, Illinois), while the western end is on the Missouri shoreline. Its most ...

in order to avoid leading traffic directly into the downtown St. Louis area. The Chain of Rocks Bridge was famous for having a curve in the middle. It is now open to pedestrians. The bridge was owned by the city of

and operated as a toll bridge. After decades of disrepair due to the lack of toll revenues, the McKinley Bridge was closed in 2001. The state of Illinois attempted to provide money to the city of Venice for repairing the bridge, but was unable to do so because of the outstanding taxes owed by the city. As a result, the City of St. Louis foreclosed on the bridge, delaying reconstruction efforts further. In an agreement reached in June 2003, the states of Illinois and Missouri agreed to take over ownership of the bridge from the city of Venice. Rehabilitation began in 2004 and the original plans for the repairs anticipated a re-opening in late 2005. However, the date was pushed back due to the addition of The Great Rivers Greenway Bikeway tie-in. The rehabilitated McKinley Bridge consists of the three original river truss spans (Spans 26-29, long each) and thirty-three steel plate girder spans, with a length totaling The Bridge reopened to pedestrians and bicycles on November 17, 2007 and was fully reopened to traffic on December 17, 2007.

References

External links

IDOT:McKinley Bridge Structure Reconstruction Project

Historic Bridges of the U.S. , McKinley Bridge
{{Structures in Greater St. Louis Road bridges in Illinois Bridges over the Mississippi River Bridges completed in 1910 Bridges on U.S. Route 66 Metro East Pedestrian bridges in Illinois Bridges in St. Louis Road bridges in Missouri Pedestrian bridges in Missouri Road-rail bridges in the United States Former toll bridges in Illinois Former toll bridges in Missouri U.S. Route 66 in Missouri U.S. Route 66 in Illinois Bridges of the United States Numbered Highway System Steel bridges in the United States Plate girder bridges in the United States Bridges in Madison County, Illinois 1910 establishments in Illinois 1910 establishments in Missouri Interstate vehicle bridges in the United States

Usage

History

See also

References

External links