New Chain of Rocks Bridge
| New Chain of Rocks Bridge | |
|---|---|
New bridge in foreground, old bridge background
|
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| Coordinates | 38°45′53″N 90°10′25″W / 38.76472°N 90.17361°W |
| Carries | 4 lanes of  I-270
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| Crosses | Mississippi River |
| Locale | Granite City, IL and Bellefontaine Neighbors, MO |
| Other name(s) | I-270 Mississippi River bridge |
| Maintained by | Illinois Department of Transportation |
| ID number | IL 060-0035 |
| Characteristics | |
| Design | Girder |
| Total length | 5,411.4 ft (1,649.4 m) |
| Width | 54.1 ft (16.5 m) |
| History | |
| Opened | River Bridge: September 2, 1966 Canal Bridge: July 11, 2014 |
| Statistics | |
| Daily traffic | 56,800 |
The New Chain of Rocks Bridge is a pair of bridges across the Mississippi River on the north edge of St. Louis, Missouri. It was constructed in 1966 to bypass the Chain of Rocks Bridge immediately to the south. It originally carried traffic for Bypass US 66 and currently carries traffic for Interstate 270. The bridge opened to traffic on September 2, 1966.
The original Chain of Rocks Bridge was a narrow bridge with a 22 degree bend midway over the river. Reportedly, two tractor-trailers could not pass each other on that bridge. The Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) marks Historic Route 66 over the New Chain of Rocks Bridge (with a "Spur historic route" to the original), but it is only considered a way to make the route continuous.
In 1959, proposals first surfaced of a new bridge just to the north of the existing bridge at Chain of Rocks. One of the major opponents to the proposal was Madison mayor Stephen Maeras, as his city owned the existing Chain of Rocks Bridge that was a toll bridge. The proposed 21 feet above the 1844 high-water mark also brought opponents asking the Corps of Engineers to reject the application.
The construction was riddled by various labor and political problems. A death threat to kill a construction supervisor surfaced in July 1965, and by November 1965 the contractor stopped work on the bridge due to the "many troubles". Meanwhile, as the rest of I-270 was open by then, the City of Madison continued to collect toll revenue from the old bridge, averaging $50,000 to $60,000 per month.
The state of Missouri, which was overseeing the construction project, would soon start an investigation as the project was several months behind schedule. The state decided on legal action against the City of Madison in regards to tolls on the old bridge by July 1966, and Madison suspended the tolls on August 2, 1966.
On September 2, 1966 at 1:45 PM (13:45), the bridge was opened to traffic. This moment marked the completion of I-270 in St. Louis (not counting the section that was still marked I-244), and was the first of three interstate highway bridges opened in the St. Louis area.
This opening could not come at a better time for the people in the nearby Alton area, as they were dealing a narrow bridge of their own at the time that had numerous problems and was facing another major closure due to repairs. As a result, any construction work or major accident on either bridge almost always made the Alton Telegraph (with the biggest stories making front page). In 1975, the Clark Bridge closed for major repairs for a six-month period, and traffic was detoured onto this bridge. Many locals refer to it as the I-270 Bridge, to differentiate it from the original Chain of Rocks Bridge, which still stands but is closed to vehicle traffic.
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Wikipedia