The Amelia Earhart Memorial Bridge is a network

tied arch bridge A tied-arch bridge is an arch bridge in which the outward-directed horizontal forces of the arch(es) are borne as tension by a chord tying the arch ends rather than by the ground or the bridge foundations. This strengthened chord may be the deck ...

over the

Missouri River The Missouri River is a river in the Central United States, Central and Mountain states, Mountain West regions of the United States. The nation's longest, it rises in the eastern Centennial Mountains of the Bitterroot Range of the Rocky Moun ...

U.S. Route 59 U.S. Route 59 (US 59) is a north–south U.S. highway (though it was signed east–west in parts of Texas). A latecomer to the U.S. Highway System, US 59 is now a border-to-border route, part of the NAFTA Corridor Highway System. It par ...

between

Atchison, Kansas Atchison is a city in, and the county seat of, Atchison County, Kansas, United States, along the Missouri River. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 10,885. The city is named in honor of US Senator ...

and

Buchanan County, Missouri Buchanan County is located in the U.S. state of Missouri. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 84,793. Its county seat is St. Joseph. When originally formed in 1838, the county was named Roberts County, after settler Hiram ...

. It opened in December 2012, replacing a previous

truss bridge A truss bridge is a bridge whose load-bearing superstructure is composed of a truss, a structure of connected elements, usually forming triangular units. The connected elements, typically straight, may be stressed from tension, compression, or ...

with the same name. The bridge is decorated with LED lighting which can be programmed to change for various functions. Pictures of the bridge with its arch lights in red, white, blue giving the illusion of a fluttering American flag when reflected in the Missouri River is widely circulated in social media.

History

Original bridge

The previous, 2-lane, cantilever bridge was built in 1937–1938 by the

Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; from 1935 to 1939, then known as the Work Projects Administration from 1939 to 1943) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to car ...

. It was designed by

Sverdrup & Parcel Sverdrup & Parcel was an American civil engineering company formed in 1928 by Leif J. Sverdrup and his college engineering professor John I. Parcel. The company worked primarily in a specialty field of bridges. The company's headquarters was l ...

. The bridge was originally named the Mo-Kan Free Bridge because it did not charge a toll (the adjacent railroad bridge served as a crossing for rail traffic as well as cars and pedestrians prior to the construction of the free bridge). The bridge was renamed for aviator

Amelia Earhart Amelia Mary Earhart ( ; July 24, 1897 – January 5, 1939) was an American aviation pioneer. On July 2, 1937, she disappeared over the Pacific Ocean while attempting to become the first female pilot to circumnavigate the world. During her li ...

, a native of Atchison, in 1997 to honor the centennial of her birth in Atchison. The illumination along the trusses and xenon spotlights that shine straight up into the sky from the top of the bridge's two peaks were installed and debuted during the Amelia Earhart Centennial Celebration on July 24, 1997. The bridge was the topic of a preservation debate on whether to replace it with a new four-lane bridge or to keep it and build a second bridge. The old bridge was demolished on October 9, 2013 using linear

shaped charge A shaped charge, commonly also hollow charge if shaped with a cavity, is an explosive charge shaped to focus the effect of the explosive's energy. Different types of shaped charges are used for various purposes such as cutting and forming metal, ...

Current bridge

Plans for replacement of the old bridge with
new four-lane span with 10 foot shoulders
were announced in the fall of 2007 by KDOT and MoDOT with construction slated on a new bridge for 2009–2011. The bridge was designed by HNTB. Because of the Missouri River flood during the summer and fall of 2011, construction was stopped. Work on the bridge was started again toward the end of 2011. The bridge's arch was built on-site, rather than barged in like some tied-arch bridges, and completed on June 14, 2012. The new bridge was opened to traffic in December 2012.

References

External links

Atchison Daily Globe profileMoDOT Amelia Earhart Memorial Bridge
* ttp://www.earthcam.com/clients/kansasDOT/ EarthCam Amelia Earhart Bridge Project Webcam* ttp://www.kmbc.com/news/demolition-begins-today-for-amelia-earhart-bridge/22348572#!bHGIAN Article and video of the demolition, with a view of the new bridge {{Crossings navbox , structure = Crossings , place =

, bridge = Amelia Earhart Bridge , bridge signs = , upstream = Atchison Swing Bridge , upstream signs = , downstream = Kansas and Missouri Bridge (demolished) , downstream signs = Bridges completed in 1939 Bridges completed in 2012 Buildings and structures in Atchison County, Kansas Buildings and structures in Buchanan County, Missouri Bridges over the Missouri River U.S. Route 59 Works Progress Administration in Missouri Works Progress Administration in Kansas Road bridges in Missouri Road bridges in Kansas Bridges of the United States Numbered Highway System Monuments and memorials to Amelia Earhart Steel bridges in the United States Tied arch bridges in the United States Truss bridges in the United States Interstate vehicle bridges in the United States Monuments and memorials completed in the 2010s

History

Original bridge

Current bridge

See also

References

External links