Poplar Street Bridge

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.

This morning, MO DOT will be inspecting the bridge.

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/commutingtraffic/story/C64FF727F21D98D1862576BC0079F253?OpenDocument

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

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/commutingtraffic/story/C64FF727F21D98D1862576BC0079F253?OpenDocument

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.

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.

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

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

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.