The Merchants Bridge, officially the Merchants Memorial Mississippi Rail Bridge, is a rail bridge crossing the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it ...

between St. Louis, Missouri, and

Venice, Illinois Venice is a city in Madison County, Illinois, United States. The population was 1,890 at the 2010 census. History Venice was platted in 1841. Geography Venice is located at (38.673796, -90.167885). According to the 2010 census, Venice has a to ...

. The bridge is owned by the Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis. It opened in May 1889 and crosses the river north of the Eads Bridge. The bridge was originally built by the St. Louis Merchants Exchange after it lost control of the Eads Bridge it had built to the Terminal Railroad. The Exchange feared a Terminal Railroad monopoly on the bridges but it would eventually lose control of the Merchants Bridge also. In 2018 work began on an extensive renovation of the bridge projected to cost $172 million. In September 2022 the Terminal Railroad completed the large reconstruction project, doubling the bridge's capacty from roughly 32 trains per day to 70 trains per day. Prior to the reconstruction, only one train, traveling at 5 miles per hour, could cross the bridge at a time. The final cost of the project was $222 million.

References

Railroad bridges in Missouri Bridges over the Mississippi River Metro East Bridges completed in 1889 Bridges in St. Louis Steel bridges in the United States Interstate vehicle bridges in the United States {{StLouis-struct-stub

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