The MacArthur Bridge is a truss bridge that connects

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Miss ...

and

East St. Louis, Illinois East St. Louis, also known as ESTL, is a city in St. Clair County, Illinois, United States. It is directly across the Mississippi River from downtown St. Louis, Missouri, and the Gateway Arch National Park. East St. Louis is in the Metro East ...

over the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the main stem, primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri River, Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Ita ...

. It originally had an upper vehicular roadway deck above the railroad deck, which was removed in stages between 1981 and the 2010s. A rehabilitation project is scheduled to be completed in 2026.

History

Early history

The bridge was constructed to break the monopoly of the Terminal Railroad Association, which controlled two other bridges at St. Louis and charged what were viewed as unreasonable tolls. Following a 1906 Congressional bill authorizing the City of St. Louis to build a new Mississippi River Bridge, bonds were issued for an initial amount of $3.5 million. Construction on the bridge began 1909, however, money ran out before the bridge approaches could be finished. This led to a second bond issuance of $2.75 million in 1914, and the bridge did not open until 1917, when it was first opened to automobile traffic. Railroad traffic would not use the bridge's lower deck until 1928. The bridge was built by Missouri Valley Bridge & Iron Co. and

American Bridge Company The American Bridge Company is a heavy/civil construction firm that specializes in building and renovating bridges and other large, complex structures. Founded in 1900, the company is headquartered in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Pittsb ...

, with the design completed by Boller & Hodge. Upon completion, the structure was the largest double-deck steel bridge in the world. The bridge was initially called the "St. Louis Municipal Bridge" and known popularly as the "Free Bridge" due to the original lack of tolls. Tolls were added for auto traffic beginning in 1932. In 1942, the bridge was renamed for

Douglas MacArthur Douglas MacArthur (26 January 18805 April 1964) was an American general who served as a top commander during World War II and the Korean War, achieving the rank of General of the Army (United States), General of the Army. He served with dis ...

. From 1929 through 1955, the MacArthur Bridge carried U.S. Highway 66 until the completion of the nearby

Poplar Street Bridge The Congressman William L. Clay Sr. Bridge, formerly known as the Bernard F. Dickmann Bridge and popularly as the Poplar Street Bridge or PSB, completed in 1967, is a deck girder bridge across the Mississippi River between St. Louis, Missouri, ...

. From 1947 to 1974, U.S. Highway 460 crossed the bridge, terminating on the west side of the bridge.

Removal of roadway

In 1981 the bridge was closed to vehicles because of pavement deterioration, and the eastern ramp approaches were torn out. In 1989, the

Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis The Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis is a Class III switching and terminal railroad that handles traffic in the St. Louis metropolitan area. It is co-owned by five of the six Class I railroads that reach the city. Present operation Th ...

acquired the MacArthur Bridge from the City of St. Louis in exchange for the title to the

Eads Bridge The Eads Bridge is a combined road and railway bridge over the Mississippi River connecting the cities of St. Louis, Missouri, and East St. Louis, Illinois. It is located on the St. Louis riverfront between Laclede's Landing, St. Louis, Lacled ...

. The Eads bridge, one of the primary reasons for the TRRA's original formation, had become obsolete for modern-day rail traffic due to the height restrictions it placed on rail cars.Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis - TRRA History
By 2007, only about 30% of the total deck reserved for automobile use had been removed. Most of the removed sections were on the East St. Louis side. The western ramp was relinquished to Ralston Purina and turned into a parking lot. In 2013 the TRRA began removing all of the auto deck over the river. By late 2014, the vehicle deck on the bridge proper had been removed, and work was progressing onto the western approach. The MacArthur Bridge continues to be the vital railroad link connecting west to east for a large number of commodities, and bulk cargo. In 2012, it was the 17th busiest railroad bridge in the United States carrying roughly 40 trains per day.

Rehabilitation

In 2022, the Terminal Railroad began a $57.3 million rehabilitation project on the bridge. The first phase included replacing a single truss span over Broadway to the west of the main bridge with a three-span girder bridge, as well as rehabilitating the bridge's floor system. The second phase, scheduled for completion in 2026, is focused on the main spans and the east approach. The renovated bridge will be able to handle a , an increase from about , and will support a railcar weight capacity of , an increase from . The project will allow longer and wider railroad cars on the approaches, and the new girders will extend the life of the bridge to 2085.

References

External links