US 66 Meramec River Bridge

The demolition of this bridge is ridiculous. Glad I visited this bridge during a brief visit to this region this past fall. My site visit indicated that there was absolutely nothing seriously wrong with the superstructure. They could have put a new deck on and celebrated a piece of Route 66 history.

Being dismantled:

http://www.sullivanjournal.com/features/article_168b1702-701d-11e3-a843-0019bb30f31a.html

The last I heard the deck was removed to reduce the dead load and give the truss a better chance of surviving while money is found repairs. I suppose it's good news that someone cares enough to worry about tge deck - it's bad that this bridge is that close to collapsing.

I drove pasted yesterday. I did not have time to stop and check closely - but the deck has been removed. I also didn't see any stringers, but there might not have been any to begin with. I also could not tell if the work was "repair" or "remove"...

Our stakeholder's effort received another important grant... this time from National Park Service's Route 66 Corridor Preservation Program. It will allow for the preparation of a much-needed Historic Structures Report. Along with the prior planning grant from National Trust for Historic Preservation, its a substantial step forward.

http://www.stltoday.com/suburban-journals/metro/news/article_1142e70d-cf02-574b-ba70-51ceba27f893.html

John Regenbogen

Scenic Missouri

That is awesome news! I know I will be writing a check to help out. I just hope this doesn't drag out for years.

Looks like there is hope for this bridge: http://rwarn17588.wordpress.com/2011/03/24/grant-awarded-to-start-preservation-of-route-66-state-park-bridge/

This historic bridge became the westbound lanes of I-44 / U. S. 66, following opening of a new eastbound bridge in 1954. I remember going out to Meramec Caverns and crossing this bridge when the speed limit was 70 MPH on I-44. A new westbound span was added in the 1970's beside the eastbound bridge, making the Meramec River US 66 bridge obsolete. It is now one of only four Warren deck truss spans left in Missouri. Sad to see this go.

Demolition of the bridge is scheduled to begin in Feb 2012 unless a NEW OWNER comes forward.

MoDOT had a public meeting on Sept 13, 2010 supposedly to collect comments from attendees - they seemed to be set on tearing the bridge down with no plans to replace it.

The link below has some addition information MoDOT handed out to those that attended.

http://www.modot.org/stlouis/major_projects/Route66StateParkBridgeVirtualPublicMeeting.htm

This virtual public meeting offers information presented during a public meeting, sponsored by MoDOT, to talk about the future of the Route 66 Meramec River Bridge (also known as the Route 66 State Park Bridge) in Eureka. The bridge was closed in 2009 because of safety, and MoDOT needs to find an organization to accept liability for the bridge or MoDOT will need to remove it in the near future.

The meeting shared MoDOT's decision to close the bridge, information about the historic preservation process and the expected timeline for decisions on the bridge.

This information will remain available until September 30, 2010. People can make comments about the process below.

http://www.modot.org/stlouis/major_projects/Route66StateParkBridge.htm

What does MoDOT think? Click link above. The bridge could collapse under its own weight in two or three years. It's not even safe for pedestrians(?).

This article is dated January 17, 2010 and does include photos of the deterioration of the bridge:

http://rwarn17588.wordpress.com/2010/01/17/the-grim-state-of-the-route-66-bridge/

Here is more information about the situation from Joe Sonderman's website about Route 66.

http://www.66postcards.com/index/tbbr.html

This past December, I went to photograph this bridge when I heard that it had been closed. It's so very sad to see the barricades across the portal to the bridge.

This bridge needs help. What the general public do to help save this bridge from demolition?

It seems association with the "Mother Road" isn't even enough to inspire MoDOT to break out of the box and preserve a historic bridge. I find the 10-20 million dollar estimate to repair the bridge to be suspiciously high, especially if the bridge were restored for pedestrian traffic only. I bet a firm with experience in historic bridge preservation could rehab the bridge for less.

Here's the link to the current article about the bridge:

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stlouiscitycounty/story/8C59176B262D5987862576B7007DEEBF?OpenDocument

This is really sad!