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Cape Girardeau Bridge
Documents
 | General plan and elevationJPEG image (2.3 MB) Historic American Engineering Record
From microfilm of the original construction drawings |
 | Stress sheetJPEG image (3.3 MB) Historic American Engineering Record
From microfilm of the original construction drawings |
Description
The Cape Girardeau Bridge is a multiple-span structure over the Mississippi River. From west to east the bridge consists of six concrete deck girder spans, two plate girder spans, a continuous through truss forming two cantilevered channel spans of 671 feet, and six Parker through truss spans, for a total length of 4,744 feet. When completed the Cape Girardeau Bridge was distinguished as an important interstate link between southeast Missouri and the middle Mississippi Valley region. It stands as an excellent example of monumental steel truss construction spanning an important national riverway.-- Historic American Engineering Record
Timeline
Compiled by James Baughn
- June 1919
- H.L. Albert, President of the Commercial Club, persuades Smith Engineering Co. of St. Louis to send a representative to draw up plans for a new "wagon bridge" across the Mississippi River at Cape. Little seems to come of this, however.
- Sept. 10, 1924
- Item in the Southeast Missourian discusses possibility of equipping Thebes Bridge to also carry vehicular traffic
- Aug. 1925
- Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce creates a bridge committee to study the possibility of erecting a new bridge at Cape
- Dec. 7, 1925
- Chamber hires Fred W. Adgate to draw up preliminary plans and a cost estimate for a new bridge
- Jan. 20, 1926
- Adgate reports to the Chamber that a bridge could be built for about $1.5 million
- May 4, 1926
- President Calvin Coolidge signs a bill approving the construction of a bridge at Cape
- August 20, 1926
- At a public meeting, the Chamber reveals plans for fund raising and the engineering firm of Harrington, Howard and Ash presented an overall bridge design and the results of a traffic survey
- Sept. 6, 1926
- Intense sales drive launched across the city to raise $300,000 in preferred stock for the bridge
- Sept. 10, 1926
- Bridge committee announces that nearly $400,000 had been raised, causing a spontaneous celebration to erupt across town
- Sept. 24, 1926
- Cape Girardeau Bridge Company formally incorporated
- Dec. 4, 1926
- Bidding opens for the bridge construction. American Bridge Co. won the bid for the superstructure and U.G.I. Contracting Co. won for the substructure. Both bids totalled about $1.2 million
- Jan. 18, 1927
- War Department issues permit for construction
- Feb. 5, 1927
- Construction begins on the first pier
- Mar. 18, 1927
- Pier 1 completed
- Mar. 21, 1927
- Rising river level reaches flood stage, halting construction of the piers in the river
- Apr. 20, 1927
- River finally crests at a level higher than any flood since 1844
- May 7, 1927
- Construction resumes as the river dropped below flood stage
- Oct. 3, 1927
- American Bridge Co. starts work on the superstructure
- Apr. 16, 1928
- U.G.I. Contracting Co. finishes work on the substructure with the completion of Pier 6
- June 1928
- Work on erecting the last steel truss span completed
- Jul. 5, 1928
- F. W. Keller starts work on paving Morgan Oak Street leading up to the bridge
- Jul. 7, 1928
- Dan Munro, subcontractor, starts laying the concrete floor
- Aug. 1, 1928
- Fed up with the foot dragging by Illinois to build an eastern connection with the bridge, the Cape Girardeau Bridge Co. commences work on building a temporary road to McClure
- Aug. 16, 1928
- Worker Charles Knight falls to his death from Span 8, the only fatality during bridge construction
- Aug. 22, 1928
- Concrete floor completed and later the asphalt surface was paved
- Sept. 3, 1928
- Bridge opens to the first traffic at 11:43 AM during a celebration attended by nearly 15,000 people. However, starting the next day, the bridge was closed to complete last-minute paving and painting
- Sept. 12, 1928
- Bridge permanently opens to traffic at 6 AM, with a toll of $1 per car and 10 cents per passenger
- Jun. 24, 1932
- Because of the Depression and because Illinois failed to build a decent connection to the bridge, toll revenue never met projections and the Cape Girardeau Bridge Co., unable to make payments, is forced to file for receivership
- Feb. 12, 1935
- US District Court issues order of foreclosure against the bridge company
- Apr. 8, 1935
- Bridge sold at public auction to Industrial Securities, Inc., of Toledo, Ohio
- Jun. 24, 1935
- Sale is finalized and management of the bridge is assigned to a subsidiary company, the Ozark Trails Bridge Co.
- Feb. 1938
- Cape Girardeau County attempted to buy the bridge by raising money through revenue bonds, but Frank Stranahan, owner of Industrial Securities, refused to sell and the plan collapsed
- Jun. 8, 1946
- Cape Girardeau Special Road District successfully purchases the bridge by issuing over $2.3 million in revenue bonds
- Aug. 24, 1955
- Engineers from the Missouri and Illinois highway departments inspect the bridge in anticipation of taking over maintenance from the Special Road District
- Jun. 1, 1957
- Special Road District retires the last revenue bond
- Jun. 29, 1957
- Last toll collected at 5:30 AM and maintenance responsibilities assumed by Missouri and Illinois
- 1963
- Bridge deck rehabilitated
- Dec. 13, 2003
- Last car rolls across old bridge when the replacement Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge officially opens
- June 21, 2004
- Workers begin the demolition process, first removing the asphalt deck
- Aug. 3, 2004
- First four Illinois approach spans are blasted just after noon
- Aug. 26, 2004
- Next approach span blasted around 7 AM
- Sept. 9, 2004
- The third demolition phase, intended to blast only the span over the main channel, also causes the other two remaining truss spans to collapse in a domino effect.
Facts
- Overview
- Lost continuous through truss bridge over the Mississippi River on MO 34/IL 146 at Cape Girardeau
- Location
- Cape Girardeau, Cape Girardeau County, Missouri, and Alexander County, Illinois
- Status
- Replaced by Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge
- History
- Built 1928, closed to all traffic on December 13, 2003, main spans demolished on September 9, 2004
- Builders
- - American Bridge Co. of New York
- Harrington, Howard & Ash of Kansas City, Kansas & New York, New York
- U.G.I. Contracting Co. of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Design
- From west to east:
Six concrete deck girder spans, each 30 ft. long
Two steel deck girder spans, for a combined length of approx. 185 ft.
Two 20-panel continuous, cantilevered Warren through truss spans, each 671.0 ft. long
Six Pennsylvania through truss spans, each approx. 311.7 ft. long - Dimensions
-
Length of largest span: 671.0 ft.
Total length: 4,744.3 ft. (0.9 mi.)
Deck width: 20.0 ft.
Vertical clearance above deck: 15.2 ft.
- Approximate latitude, longitude
- +37.29722, -89.51678 (decimal degrees)
37°17'50" N, 89°31'00" W (degrees°minutes'seconds") - Approximate UTM coordinates
- 16/276921/4130815 (zone/easting/northing)
- Quadrangle map:
- Cape Girardeau
- Inventory numbers
- MoDOT K-948R1 (Missouri Dept. of Transportation bridge number)
BH 21096 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Update Log
- May 13, 2020: New photos from Darren T Snow
- June 6, 2019: New photos from Joe Sonderman
- May 26, 2019: New photos from Joe Sonderman
- January 5, 2019: New photo from Melissa Brand-Welch
- January 2, 2019: New photo from Melissa Brand-Welch
- September 4, 2017: Document added by James Baughn
- August 7, 2012: HAER photos posted by Jason Smith
- March 27, 2005: Posted new photos, overhauled page layout
Related Bridges
- Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge (Successor)
Sources
- HAER MO-84 - Cape Girardeau Bridge
- Wikipedia
- HAER MO-84 - Cape Girardeau Bridge, Spanning Mississippi River at State Highway 146, Cape Girardeau, Cape Girardeau County, MO
- James Baughn - webmaster [at] bridgehunter [dot] com
- Melissa Brand-Welch - melissabrandwelch [at] msn [dot] com
- Joe Sonderman
- Darren T Snow
Comments
Cape Girardeau Bridge
It's a shame beautiful pieces of history such as this one are removed, although it's nice the approach was saved to be used as a memorial.
Cape Girardeau Bridge
The approach part left as a memorial is nicely done. Photos taken June 10, 2011.
Cape Girardeau Bridge
Fascinating pictorial...That was a gorgeous bridge.
Cape Girardeau Bridge
There's a video of the implosion here:
Cape Girardeau Bridge
I have always gone under the bridge on the Illinois side to go 4 wheelin' and dirt bikin'. I have been known a time or two to get stuck down there. I have built bonfires and have tailgate parties with a few friends. I would have to say...most of memories of back home were under that bridge. I'm glad I was a part of it.
Cape Girardeau Bridge
I remember crossing this when I was younger (probably in the mid 1990s). This bridge was a louder bridge to cross than most, and I looked out of the car to see why: large portions of the floor were metal grates, through which you could see the waters below.
After that, I never really cared to cross the bridge. At least the other ones I had crossed didn't have water visible directly underneath the car.
Cape Girardeau Bridge
That old bridge was always scary to cross. Way too narrow. Even as a teenager, I was having a hard time keeping the car within the lane without driving off the side or hitting someone head on. Know a few people killed crossing the bridge. But, it was historical. Another piece of Cape Girardeau history sorry to see go. They could have kept it as a one-way bridge.
Cape Girardeau Bridge
That was 1 old Bridge.
One early memory, as a kid,
was the thrill of going fast,
with a friend;"Doc", driving his
"souped-up" 71 El Cameno SS, from
the MO. side up to the first ramp
so as to actually go airbourn!
...At least for a few secounds.
ok,
He had to get a runup to it.
;)
Well, it was fun.
© Copyright 2021, Historic Bridge Foundation and contributors.
This page's URL is http://bridgehunter.com/mo/cape/old/
This page's URL is http://bridgehunter.com/mo/cape/old/
My grandfather Robert S Cunningham always said the bridge really wasn't very old because when he was a kid his father, Dr Harvey Lee Cunningham had a couple of farms over in IL and they had to take the horses over there on a ferry.