Chouteau Bridge

Nice addition, Kelly. I always enjoyed crossing on this bridge. Good to have some more pics.

I have been going through some old photos and scanning them. I came across some photos (which I have added) the other day. I had forgotten that I had went out and said, "good-bye" to the old Chouteau Bridge. After I scanned them, I used auto-correct for the coloring, and they where a little off. While it was a shame that the bridge had to go, all things have to die, even bridges at times. It is rare, though that we get to say good-bye to a span, I hope I did it justice in it's final days.

As I am a huge fan of visiting bridges, I would've loved to see this bridge while it was still standing. It would have been a great candidate for pedestrian use. You would think that the Chouteau Bridge would be used as a pedestrian bridge, since the Chain of Rocks Bridge in St. Louis became a pedestrian bridge around the same time that this bridge was demolished. About the possibility of leaving it, the Chain of Rocks Bridge stood abandoned for over 30 years.

But.... as much as I loved it, it was INCREDIBLY narrow, and I had to drive a floral delivery van across it in icy weather once. WHITE KNUCKLE time for sure. And I'm not one who's ever afraid fo bridges normally.

I thought the Choteau bridge was BEAUTIFUL. There were protests when it was torn down. Many wanted it converted to a pedestrian/bicycle bridge. I suppose they didn't have the money to do it. The thing is, when that happens, they should LEAVE THE BRIDGE standing for a period of time, to allow private groups time to gather funds to convert the bridge. Legislation could prevent lawsuits form stupid people who might get hurt on the closed bridge. And razor wire could keep them off as well.

Two photographs of the first pier on the south side of the river. MoDOT retained this feature as part of the National Historic Preservation Act resolution.

I had considered this to be one of the finest truss bridges in the entire United States and one of the landmarks of Kansas City.

There was much fear that this bridge was unsafe, and the weight limit had been lowered to three tons. For some residents of the KC area, it was considered "fun" to drive unsuspecting friends and family across this bridge.

This was an amazing structure! Just looking at pictures makes me wish I had seen the real thing. I have not seen circular, cut stone cassions on any other bridge. You have to wonder just what is wrong with people who would replace a gem like this.