Along its diagonal trip through the Prairie State, Route 66 manages to avoid most of the state's major water hazards. Illinois River? Check. Kaskaskia River? Check. Ohio and Wabash? Very much check. Only various streams and creeks, the Sangamon River north of Springfield and the waterways of Joliet, once crossed via drawbridge, stand in the way of the pavement and lands west.
Of course, the Mother Road can't expect to jump the border into Missouri without braving the Mighty Mississippi, which gives us the most spectacular span on the eight-state journey as well as one of the most impressive landmarks of any type in Illinois, Missouri or the rest of the way: the Chain of Rocks Bridge. With its gothic water intakes and oddball bend the structure ranks as one of the most famous bridges in the world, and today pedestrians and cyclists can brave its mile span and take in spectacular views of the river, bald eagles and the horridly bland New Chain of Rocks Bridge that replaced the old crossing in the late 60's.
The Chain of Rocks isn't the only Saint Louis crossing the Mother Road used, however. Originally the highway crossed near Venice, Illinois using the McKinley Bridge (re-opened in 2007). After three years traffic moved south to the Macarthur Bridge (then known as the Municipal Bridge or Free Bridge; today it is closed to vehicle traffic) where the route would stay until the Chain of Rocks Bridge inherited the highway in 1936.
Both the main Route 66 and the City route used the COR until 1955 when the northern trek was relabeled as the Bypass and the City route moved back to downtown. This time a third bridge was used - the Veterans Bridge, now known as the Martin Luther King Bridge, which currently carries four lanes of traffic between East Saint Louis and the Edwards Jones Dome. Shortly afterwards construction began on Interstates 55 and 70 downtown and Interstate 270 in the north, and Bypass traffic was rerouted to the New COR Bridge in 1967 while in the same year the City route joined I-55, I-70 and US 40 on the brand new Bernard F. Dickman Bridge which still carries the three former highways to this day. This most modern span is usually known by a nickname given to the structure to take credit away from the mayor (Dickman) whom it was meant to honor; locals always refer to it as the Poplar Street Bridge (or just "the Poplar").
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For three decades this was the principal span across the Mississippi River, as traffic bound from lands east to west and vice versa braved the tight rails and seemingly random bend to cross the virtual halfway point of the United States. Since the new COR Bridge was built just to the north, the Old Chain of Rocks Bridge has been denied vehicular traffic (save the occasional motor tour) but thanks to the efforts of Trailnet pedestrians and cyclists commonly use the archaic surface to jump from state-to-state and enjoy the views along the Mississippi at the north end of Saint Louis. |
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Chain of Rocks Bridge
