Does anyone have anymore pictures of this bridge or any of the two lane highway 61? I am interested in seeing what this area looked like before high way 61 was a divided highway.
yes Tractor Trailer had a full load of baking potatoes, destination produce row, st.louis, mo.
The truck hit the northwest span center head on and nocked part of the bridge off of the peers, unfortunately the driver was thrown out and landed about a hundred feet south of the point of impact. Potatoes were strewn completely thru the bridge to the southern end.
Many of the potatoes were picked up and taken home with the Sunday Morning crowd that came to witness the scene.
The highway at that time was a quite two lane passage, and a lot of the traffic selected the "Old Red Ball Route" to journey north and south, this picked up at the top of Harlon hill and would take you thru "Sydnerville" to down town "Troy".
The new span was back in operation very quickly, something like 40 days.
Wasn't this bridge hit by a semi-truck hauling potatoes, damaging it beyond repair?
On Sept 4, 1966, one of the four spans was demolished by a tractor trailer truck loaded with potatoes driven by Judson O. Bullis of Iowa Falls Ia. Bullis was killed in the crash.
The bridge reopened on Sept. 23 1966 following repairs by State Highway Dept. crews working in conjunction with Parson's Construction Co. of New London MO.