Rating:
7 votes

Poplar Street Bridge

St. Louis, Missouri, and St. Clair County, Illinois

Photos 

View from MacArthur Bridge

Photo taken Jan. 2004 by Brian Frierdich

BH Photo #107312

Map 

Street View 

Facts 

Overview
Haunched Deck plate girder over the Mississippi River on I-55 / I-64 / U. S. Highway 40 at St. Louis
Location
St. Louis, Missouri, and St. Clair County, Illinois
Status
Open to traffic
History
Built 1967; reconstructed 1993, shifted to add 5th lane each way 2018
Builder
- Bethlehem Steel Co. of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
Design
Haunched Deck plate girder
Dimensions
Length of largest span: 600.0 ft.
Total length: 2,164.4 ft. (0.4 mi.)
Deck width: 104.0 ft.
Recognition
Eligible for the National Register of Historic Places
Also called
Bernard F. Dickman Bridge (official name)
changed to William Clay Bridge in 2013
Approximate latitude, longitude
+38.61789, -90.18266   (decimal degrees)
38°37'04" N, 90°10'58" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates
15/745287/4278140 (zone/easting/northing)
Quadrangle map:
Cahokia
Land survey
T. 45 N., R. 7 E., Sec. 23
Average daily traffic (as of 2017)
57,597
Inventory numbers
MONBI 1244 (Missouri bridge number on the National Bridge Inventory)
BH 22658 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Inspection report (as of February 2017)
Overall condition: Poor
Superstructure condition rating: Poor (4 out of 9)
Substructure condition rating: Fair (5 out of 9)
Deck condition rating: Poor (4 out of 9)
Sufficiency rating: 59.5 (out of 100)
View more at BridgeReports.com

Categories 

Bethlehem Steel Co. (125)
Built 1967 (144)
Built during 1960s (1,907)
Deck girder (5,019)
Girder (9,083)
Haunched deck plate girder (71)
Have street view (25,342)
Illinois (4,454)
Interstate 55 (11)
Interstate 64 (15)
Interstate 70 (36)
Mississippi River (212)
Missouri (6,129)
 NR-eligible (4,011)
Navigable waterway (2,091)
Open (38,117)
Owned by state (15,070)
Plate girder (6,907)
Span length 500-1000 feet (372)
St. Clair County, Illinois (67)
St. Louis, Missouri (145)
State line crossing (783)
Total length 1000-2500 feet (1,733)
US 40 (136)
US 66 (270)

Update Log 

  • May 18, 2019: New photos from Joe Sonderman
  • February 11, 2017: New photos from Daniel Barnes
  • February 8, 2014: Updated by Mark Dellbringge: Status change: Edited picture, description and categories to remove I-70.
  • February 28, 2012: New photo from Gene Smania
  • February 17, 2011: Updated by Mark Dellbringge: Incorporated data from 2010 NBI
  • February 16, 2011: Updated by Mark Dellbringge: Updated future prospects
  • February 15, 2011: New photo from Mark Dellbringge
  • September 26, 2010: New photos from Mark Dellbringge
  • September 18, 2010: Updated by Mark Dellbringge: Main span, added steel fabricator
  • January 31, 2010: New photo from James Baughn
  • September 8, 2009: New photos from James Baughn
  • July 10, 2005: Posted photo from Brian Frierdich

Sources 

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Comments 

Poplar Street Bridge
Posted March 31, 2018, by David Huffman

The entire bridge is being shifted to add a 5th eastbound lane.

http://fox2now.com/2018/03/30/poplar-street-bridge-making-hi...

Poplar Street Bridge
Posted September 26, 2010, by Todd D. Walker (mrwalk08 [at] aol [dot] com)

Anybody remember 1983's National Lampoon's Vacation? Chevy Chase drove his ugly station wagon over this bridge before getting lost in a nearby ghetto. Time flies.

Poplar Street Bridge
Posted February 1, 2010, by Sharon Spear (sweetsexysharon [at] gmail [dot] com)

This morning, MO DOT will be inspecting the bridge.

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

Poplar Street Bridge
Posted January 31, 2010, by Sharon Spear (sweetsexysharon [at] gmail [dot] com)

New signs may be needed..."Caution: falling concrete"

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

Poplar Street Bridge
Posted May 4, 2009, by Al Benton (cab3705 [at] sbcglobal [dot] net)

The speed limit on the Poplar Street Bridge is 50MPH, however, as seems to be normal these days, hardly anyone obeys that. There are no provisions for emergency stopping at all on the span. It is partolled frequently by Auto Assistance Vehicles from both ends but even that is often not enough. An accident or even just a stopped vehicle often causes multiple rear-end collisions.

This bridge carries several Interstate highways as well as an overburdon of local traffic, especially durring rush hour periods. A new Interstate bridge is in the works now but will not be opened for quite a while. I think budgets are in place, land is being acquired for right-of-ways and soon construction will begin on approaches.

Poplar Street Bridge
Posted January 24, 2009, by Albert E. Bertram (abertram8297 [at] charter [dot] net)

This was a problem with a lot of the bridges (particularly Interstate Bridges) built during the 1960's. No provisions for a shoulder (at least on the outside lanes)was made, even though the high-speed traffic would have recommended one for safety's sake. The same problem exists on the new Chain of Rocks bridge and that is an even longer (1 mile) bridge. Whenever I cross it, driving an older car, I hope that I have no problems before getting across it. I don't know why the builders and designers didn't incorporate that into the designs being that the interstate highway system was supposed to be designed for safety. They do it for all bridges that have been built since the 70's and beyond, and these bridges were a lot more expensive to build.

Poplar Street Bridge
Posted January 22, 2009, by JZ (Zoomjz [at] aol [dot] com)

The traffic volume on this bridge will be reduced in about 2015, if and when the planned new bridge over the Mississippi River opens.

Poplar Street Bridge
Posted November 29, 2007, by SHARON GAROZZO (S_GAROZZO [at] SBCGLOBAL [dot] NET)

YES! AVOID THIS BRIDGE IT'S NOT JUST THE ROAD REPAIRS...IT'S JUST A OLD DANGEROUS BRIDGE! IN APRIL OF 1997 MY SON, SHAWN RUSH WAS KILLED ON THAT BRIDGE! HIS CAR STALLED...AND THERE ISN'T ANY KIND OF SHOULDER OR AREA TO PULL YOUR CAR OVER! A SPEEDING CAB DRIVER SMASHED INTO THE BACK OF HIS CAR AND TIPPED HIM OVER ON HIS SIDE. THEN THE CAB DRIVER TOOK OFF! HE TOOK AWAY A GREAT SON, BROTHER,COUSIN,NEPHEW AND FRIEND!

IF THE NURSE THAT STOPPED TO HELP SHAWN HERE'S ABOUT THIS WEB SITE...PLEASE CONTACT ME, I WOULD LIKE TO THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP!

SHAWN'S MOM

Poplar Street Bridge
Posted July 6, 2006, by Tim (musicman126 [at] msn [dot] com)

If you're not a St. Louisan and don't know.......AVOID this bridge like the plague for the next several months. They're repaving so there's one lane closed in each direction. Traffic backs up for several miles at the worst times. If you have to get downtown, use the MLK or the Eads. If you're going through the city to the south, use the I-255 bypass and the Jefferson Barracks Bridge (Exit 10 on the Illinois side). If you're going through on the north, use I-270 (Exit 20 on the Illinois side) and the Chain of Rocks Bridge. The PSB is BAD NEWS right about now.