MacArthur Bridge

This bridge represents the efficiency and engineering elegance of a former age which is unappreciated by the too many people today. Carrying traffic and rail over the same structure is just the kind of efficient use of space and resources that our society should be investing in rather than dismantling. I suspect the city spent far more than the $6 million needed to repair it in tearing out the upper deck (yes, I know that the figure was in 1981 dollars, but that doesn't change the point). The City of St. Louis has plenty of money to waste on political cronyism, after all.

As for safety, the bridge was dangerous, but the drivers were. Too many people believe that every stretch of road should allow 70 mph. They can perhaps beat the laws of the city and state, but they cannot beat the laws of physics.

I drove past a few weeks ago. It appears the upper (automotive) deck has been completely removed from the main spans. The west approach span - that Pratt you mention - was removed a number of years ago.

I'd sure like to see a pedestrian deck on that bridge!

Noticed the Pratt span on the MO side (just before the three main spans) has recently been removed. Much of the roadway deck on the MO side has been removed and only outriggers remain.

I've been curious about this bridge since I learned I had an uncle by marriage who was involved in a fatal solo crash while driving over the Mississippi in 1961. After a small bit of poking around I learned about this bridge's deadly reputation; the s-curves, the flimsy guard rails, etc. Are there records or police reports about the bridge's victims?

Thank you,

Joanna, AKA Family Genealogist

Drove past yesterday (12/25/13). The road deck has has been removed from half the bridge. Only the MO side remains.

I recently drove past and saw construction equipment on the automotive deck of the east main span. And it appears the automotive deck no longer extends to the east end of the east main span. Is this recent? I see some comments about the automotive deck, but I'm not sure if there is work going on now.

Here is a photo I took from Poplar Street bridge of the eastern main span. The automobile deck is missing eastward.

I see what James is talking about. Google Maps, not satellite, shows "MacArthur Bridge (Planned)" where the road name usually is.

https://maps.google.com/maps?ll=38.615139,-90.185743&spn=0.0...

You're likely just seeing remains from the old road that used to cross the bridge.

Google Maps claims some route is planned across the bridge...does anyone know anything about this?

Has it ever been revealed how many workers died while building this bridge? My GG-uncle was a structural iron worker and died from an 80 ft fall from the bridge on 3-6-1912. His name was Clyde Frazier.

A railroad worker just fell to his death this week from the bridge.

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/railroad...

I am sure many things bad have happened. I will add one sad article related to my family history research. The woman in the article is my grandfather's first cousin. This is from the East St Louis Journal on Dec 21 1937 during the depression.

NOTE: In 1942 the Municipal Bridge was renamed to the MacArthur bridge

Diana

Let's hope that is the case. Should the railroad decide to abandon the bridge, there would be a massive crusade to save it for recreational purposes. I know one who would sacrifice everything he had for it....

Jason - Perhaps those were old railroad ties being replaced.

This bridge was in this old movie "The Great St. Louis Bank Robbery" which was made in 1959.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMlQyTmi-DE

The bridge (and Eads Bridge) is featured in the first 2 minutes of the film.

I saw this bridge and photographed it a few months ago on my visit to St. Louis, and wow, what a bridge and what an awesome urban city. Freakin loved it, anyways, here some photos.

Thank you for posting the comment below which only confirms my memory of my father telling us young children that semi-truck drivers would often go over the guard rails into the river below because they were not paying attention while driving. With those erie flashing yellow lights and sharp turns and a vivid imagination at age 8 it is no wonder crossing bridges is a white knuckle affair for me today. I have to turn off the radio to concentrate.

We lived in Cahokia and mom took dad to work at A.B. This was in 1960's era but like yesterday when I visit St. Louis today - especially driving over the chain of rocks bridge during route 66 motor tour... and people getting out of their cars, causing the traffic tour to come to a halt in the middle of the bridge. S...t! Never again.

"The subject of bridges has come up in conversation lately, with the tragedy in Minnesota. I was thinking of the only bridge I was ever fearful of, and the MacArthur Bridge came to mind. My recollections are as a small boy at the time in the late 1950's and early 60's.

I grew up in southern Illinois, about 2 hours south of St. Louis, and we would make the trip several times a year. In those days, there were no interstate highways, and we would travel up IL Route 3. I recall the bridge having a very Gothic type architecture. Very foreboding, especially at night. All of the structure was black, and the approaches had relatively sharp turns. There was a multitude of yellow caution lights and warning signs that added to the effect. Semi-trucks would often mishandle these turns, and become "jacknifed" with the cab hanging over the short guardrails. From a childs perspective, the crossing of the bridge was a scary experience.

The other element I recall, was the stench from the pre-EPA Monsanto plant on the Illinois side of the bridge"

Here's a couple of articles on the proposal of using the MacArthur for pedestrians/bicycles.

http://rogerkramercycling.org/blog/?p=1489

http://stlelsewhere.blogspot.com/2010/08/som-bridge-han-rive...

IMO, the MacArthur would need rehab work to make it into a pedestrian bridge since the eastern approach and some of the former upper vehicle deck were removed a few years ago. A brand new eastern approach to the MacArthur’s upper deck would have to be built, and the former vehicle deck would likely need rehabbing or even replacement too.

Here's a diagram that includes a new eastern approach span.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_xgLyP-rB8F8/THDv-bPn9HI/AAAAAAAACy...

There's also an alternate proposal to build a completely new pedestrian span right next to the Poplar St Bridge. I guess they'll have to weigh the cost of building a new bridge against that of reusing/rebuilding the MacArthur's upper level for pedestrian use, and whether the TRRA would cooperate in rehabbing the bridge.

May not for motor vehicles,but I've noticed on KTVI-2 that there is plans for the Arch expansion that the MacArthur will be used as a pedestrian/bike bridge. It looks gorgeous in the plans I saw. Has the name painted in white on one of the beams. It was something else.

I don't think that the MacArthur Bridge will ever be reopened for motor vehicles again. They have removed the motor vehicle deck on the Illinois side all the way to the main trusses over the Mississippi River. Now that the new Mississippi River bridge (I-70) is under construction between the MLK and McKinley Bridges, I think that it is a dead issue. However, I think that the MacArthur Bridge will be around for a long time as it feeds directly into the Lesperance Street and Gratiot Street railroad yards on the Missouri side and the Gateway yard on the Illinois side, which is the largest railroad yard in the metro area.

Some more photos of the MacArthur Bridge,this time with a train on the bridge,taken 5.17.10.

2 photos of the MacArthur Bridge taken from the Poplar taken from my cousin's camera phone. Taken today,4.19.10 during the ceremony for the new bridge.

Scroll down to "Free Bridge" on this website. They have some photographs of the bridge on opening day.

http://www.usgennet.org/usa/mo/county/stlouis/kempland/glass...

On Page 111 of Never Been A Time By Harper Barnes,there is a ghostly picture of what they term the 'Free Bridge' Our MacArthur Bridge. If you read this book check it out.

I have recently found a page that contains a lot of upper deck pictures that were taken sometime after the new year(2010). The link can be found by typing this address in:

(http://www.flickr.com/photos/pasa/sets/72157623095307747/).

If you want to see how the upper deck of the MaCarthur bridge looks today, check out these photos.

http://www.amazon.com/Never-Been-Time-Sparked-Movement/dp/08...

Never Been A Time was from the riots of 1917. I ordered it,seemed like a really troubled time in our history,and the General Mac here withstood it all. I have ordered this from my local library. My father has a doctorate in history and I think I've inherited his love of it. To love our bridges you must I think love history too.

Is there anyway of getting on the closed top deck right over the river to take pictures?

Some photos we took on December 14,2009 going into St.Charles,Mo. Two here of the Mac.I have been fascinated by the Mac since a child going over it.(Mickey) There was a freight train going over it at the time these photos were taken. It was a gloomy cloudy day and these two were the best.

Both were taken from the Poplar Street Bridge.

Poplar is a very boring bridge(Chalon)

Heather asked if anything bad ever happened on this bridge and the answer is yes. During the East St. Louis race riot many African Americans were forced to jump off the new bridge as they tried to flee.

From "Never Been A Time" by Harper Barnes

The link below is an online article at the local newspaper's website. It includes a photo from the opening day of the bridge, January 20, 1917.

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stlouiscit...

Now that they have re-done the MLK bridge, traffic is horrendous coming from IL. It would really be wonderful if they could refurbish the MacArthur Bridge to help relieve traffic. I've always been intrigued by this bridge and would love to see it in use for auto traffic again. Thanks for the great site!

If this bridge is ever replaced TRRA would likely get us taxpayers to cover the cost for a new bridge.

I agree with the below comments, something about this bridge makes it very eerie, daunting, and almost ghostly. Last month I was parked near the bridge when I decided to go take a peak. I was completely awestruck when I saw a good portion of the original approach and roadbed still in place, albeit very direlect. I took the opprotunity to take as many pictures as I could of the old western road approach and attached a few here.

I think aslong as TRRA is using it, it has life and won't be replaced anytime soon. But I'd all but guarantee the roadbed will never be used again. Afterall, with 3 other bridges (Poplar St., Eads, and MLK) within a few blocks of the MacArthur, there's no point in restoring it.

Something about old structures has always completely fascinated me, so to be able to see and feel with my own hands this structure that once was a living breathing part of the city, something taken for granted and used thoughtlessly everyday, once a grand and proud piece of modern engineering...now be stripped of its diginity and abandoned, left to the elements to dismantle it bit by bit...once vital to the city, now in the way...

Ha...ok so maybe that does only pertain to the roadbed... at least the rail is still alive and well afterall :)

is this the bridge thats close to UP shunting yards and TRRA tracks?

one of the IL railroad approach trestles has at least 4 different through truss spans, with 3 being over old railroad yards.

I found it interesting to read the various comments about the MacArthur Bridge. As a child, I travelled it many times with my parents when we went to visit my grandparents who lived just south of downtown in the Compton Hill neighborhood. I always enjoyed the view. I watched the entire Poplar Street bridge complex being built while travelling on the MacArthur Bridge during the mid-60's Some interesting things about the bridge were that for a long time, it had three lanes, with the middle lane being a kind of "no man's land." Sometime in the late 60's or early 70's, they restriped it to just two lanes. Up until the early 60's, when they put in an interchange at the west end of the bridge at Ralston Purina, you just came off the bridge directly onto 7th street, which was kind of hazardous. As to bad things happening with the bridge, there used to be a notorious tavern on Illinois Route 3 almost directly under the bridge. Early one morning sometime in the early 70's, someone went up on the bridge, parked their car, and fired shots from a high-power rifle into the tavern, killing several people. I don't believe the murders were ever solved.

Why not do to this bridge what was done to the McKinley Bridge? It is a massive bridge built to handle rail and auto traffic, so it should be posible to use it just for auto and pedestrian traffic. Replace the deck and approachs and paint it.

Thank you for photo. It will be 100 year old. State dept. of transportment will check this bridge. It is poor condition.

Future prospects; Scheduled for replacement soon or about summer 2015.

THANK YOU.

The subject of bridges has come up in conversation lately, with the tragedy in Minnesota. I was thinking of the only bridge I was ever fearful of, and the MacArthur Bridge came to mind. My recollections are as a small boy at the time in the late 1950's and early 60's.

I grew up in southern Illinois, about 2 hours south of St. Louis, and we would make the trip several times a year. In those days, there were no interstate highways, and we would travel up IL Route 3. I recall the bridge having a very Gothic type architecture. Very foreboding, especially at night. All of the structure was black, and the approaches had relatively sharp turns. There was a multitude of yellow caution lights and warning signs that added to the effect. Semi-trucks would often mishandle these turns, and become "jacknifed" with the cab hanging over the short guardrails. From a childs perspective, the crossing of the bridge was a scary experience.

The other element I recall, was the stench from the pre-EPA Monsanto plant on the Illinois side of the bridge.

The railroad company that owns the bridge has absolutely no plans to reopen the bridge to auto traffic. It would cost them money to replace the deck, with little gain to themselves. But I agree, wouldn't it be great to have at least 2 more lanes going across the Mississippi? Perhaps the bridge could carry reversible express lanes across the river.

Also, this is the bridge that carries Amtrak across the river.

The MacArthur Bridge was closed to auto traffic in 1981. When I was a teen I remember riding my bike across the bridge and feel the auto deck vibrate whenever a train crossed the bridge on the lower level. It would be nice to see this bridge completely refurbished. Over 40 years ago this bridge was once part of the U.S. highway system (designated US 460), the bridge marked the western terminus of this highway.

Are they planning to tear the whole upper road deck out?

Has anything bad ever happened under this bridge? I have had dreams about this bridge for years, and it's always bad dreams, that something bad and dark and scary has happened under it....does anyone have any history on it?

Does anyone know if they tore the entire eastern road deck out all the way to 10th street or did they just start tearing it out from the section they removed in 1989.

I think it would be a great idea to connect the West and East road ramp approaches to the highway for overflow traffic on the Poplar Street Bridge while still connecting it to the original route.

I think it would be great if they connected the East and West road ramp approaches to the highway as a back up for overflow traffic on the Poplar Street Bridge.

The highway deck was closed to traffic in 1981 due to pavement deterioration. That same year the western ramp approaches were ripped out.

I see that someone is tearing out the upper deck on the bridge. Too bad. I always wanted to get up there somehow and take pictures of the city.

Acually, it just depends on railroad traffic for the day. If the MacArthur bridge is backed up, Amtrak will go North along the riverfront and cross the Mississippi on the Merchants Bridge.

It is where the amtrack crosses. It is the only way for a common person to cross the river on this bridge now. Get a window seat.

I am taking Amtrak to Chicago in August, and was sondering where I would cross the Mississippi river. Is this the bridge that I will be crossing when i leave from St. Louis?

Thanks,

Tom