I-255+US-50 Jefferson Barracks Bridge over Mississippi River near St. Louis

(Bridge Hunter, 3D Satellite)

I don't normally do yet another steel tied-arch bridge, but when you get a view as unique as this, I went for it. This is "reverse railfan." Specifically, it is a photo from a train instead of a train. And at the bottom is some photos of the cantilever truss that it replaced.

William A. Shaffer posted
The Jefferson Barracks Bridge at St. Louis, MO
(Shot through the window of Amtrak #22 en route to St. Louis)
(Photo by William A. Shaffer)

By Service Depicted: Other ServiceCamera Operator: SSGT PAUL GRIFFIN - ID:DFST9500065, Public Domain, Link
Roads and farmland in St. Louis area are hard hit by floodwaters. Location: SAINT LOUIS, ILLINOIS (IL) UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (USA)
1993

Westbound bridge built 1984; eastbound bridge built 1990, The navigation channel span is 910'.

Missouri State Archives from Flickr

The eastbound span of the Jefferson Barracks (I-255) bridge was opened in December 1990, not 1986. It was opened right around the time that Iben Browning predicted that there would be a major earthquake on the New Madrid Fault. It took some time to complete the eastbound span, as there were money and construction issues. They also dropped one of the horizontal steel members from the arch into the Mississippi River while it was being hoisted, and some time was lost while they retrieved it. I remember that there was a lot of talk at the time about how that earthquake (if it happened) might affect the new bridge. I do have some pictures of the old bridge alongside the new one while it was being build back in the early and mid-80's. The old Jefferson Barracks bridge was completed in 1944 as a war-time measure to allow the Illinois side better access to the western part of the St. Louis area. At that time, there were no bridges on the Mississippi River between the Chester (IL) bridge and the MacArthur Bridge in St. Louis and only a ferry at Davis Street in south St. Louis that crossed over to East Carondelet in Illinois. There was also a railroad ferry that operated between the Carondelet section of south St. Louis and the railyard at Dupo, Illinois that I believe stopped operation sometime in the 1950's. The old Jefferson Barracks was a toll bridge until 1959, when the bonds were paid off. It closed for good when the new bridge opened in 1984 and was eventually demolished. I remember there was a proposal to dismantle it and ship it to South American to be rebuilt somewhere (I never did hear what country was involved)there, but that obviously never came about. [Bridge Hunter comment by Al Bertram]

Some photos of the previous bridge from the Bridge Hunter comments.

1

2

3