US 66 Meramec River Bridge Fenton

Well, it looks like the last of the old bridge is about to be removed. Westbound I-44 has used the pier from the old US-66 deck truss, but currently a new westbound bridge is being built. It appears it is done, with eastbound temporarily using the new bridge while the existing eastbound bridge is resurfaced.

I expect that in a month or two the old bridge will be removed - and in the process the piers.

I'm adding a couple photos here in the comments showing the piers. But since it isn't really this bridge I don't really think the photos belong up above.

The first photo shows all the river piers. Taken from the west bank facing east, so the north (upstream) side of the bridge complex. The narrow piers are the ones I'm fairly certain are "leftover" from the US-66 bridge.

The second photos shows the narrow, oldest piers on the left. The next one to the right is still pretty old, presumably from when US-66 was made 4-lane or maybe the first I-44. Next to the right is the newest pier. I think this is replacing the two oldest ones. Furthest to the right is the current eastbound bridge pier

The current address of the Sylvan Beach postcard is:

http://www.66postcards.com/postcards/mo/MO043720.html

Perhaps we should try to get permission to host the image on Bridgehunter.

I remember a lot of work on 44 in Shresbury-Webster around 1964.

I'm thinking the new 44 bridge was put in around 1964 not 1954?

Could 54 be a typo?

Joe

I'm glad Don and I were able to add some links to photos and a postcard of the original bridge. And we know that it looks like the bridge at Times Beach.

Though we may not have the dates that it was built or demolished, I think the presumption that it was built by the same company about the same time as the Times Beach bridge is probably a good guess. Perhaps the website for the builder of the Times Beach bridge would give us some more information.

Well Done!

These may be our bridges in 1963. 244 is now I-270:

http://www.66postcards.com/postcards/mo/MO038306.html

Fmiser: That's OK! I don't have an editor's account (yet), so I wouldn't have been able to add it anyway.

Don: Somewhere I have photographs of the piers on the east side of the river. Those might help us, since they're the ones in the old photographs. Looking at the construction of the piers, I think the I-44 WB bridge was built on piers from at least one of the older bridges - the design of the support here with the cross beam halfway up the pier:

https://maps.google.com/maps?ll=38.543622,-90.434813&spn=0.0...

is a design that was used in Missorui quite often in the 30's, 40's, and 50's.

Ah.

I've been waiting for one of you to add the bridge page so I could add some observations. I didn't want to "steal" it either.

Google street view shows the westbound bridge having two sets of piers. One narrow set alongside a wider set under one deck.

Eastbound is built on one set of full-width piers. Eastbound is also a haunched deck girder design while westbound appears to be a plain deck girder design. Maybe they're steel stringer bridges, but eastbound appears haunched.

This suggests that they may have been built at different times.

So, is one set of piers under westbound the piers from the warren deck truss?

Or, was a narrower bridge built alongside the warren deck truss, and later the deck truss removed in favor of the full width eastbound bridge and the narrow westbound 1954 bridge widened with a second set of piers?

Perhaps the warren truss served later than 1954?

Also look at the new bridges near the Times Beach bridge with streetview. Those are apparently a 1954 span and a 1968 span. The piers are very different. This might suggest the bridges at Fenton are of 1954 vintage or later, but not as late as 1968.

Well, I added a page for the old bridge. Jayhawk, I hope I didn't just annoy you by "stealing" your bridge. :)