(
Bridge Hunter; no Historic Bridges;
John A. Weeks III; no John Marvig;
Satellite)
"Opened Aug. 23, 1942 as a toll bridge. Main span destroyed by severe thunderstorm July 29, 1944; reopened Aug. 24, 1946. Tolls removed Jan. 1, 1989." [Bridge Hunter]
I wonder what the strategic importance of this bridge was that they were allowed to use steel for it during World War II.
The Chester Bridge was constructed by the City of Chester to connect Illinois and Missouri. In the late 1930s City governmental and business leaders formed a committee to oversee the effort, which would construct a toll bridge to connect to the developing highway systems in Illinois and Missouri. They worked under the slogan, “It shall be built.”
The City of Chester contracted with Sverdrup & Parcel, Consulting Engineers, of St. Louis, Missouri, in 1939 to design the bridge. Bonds were sold to finance the construction and the first contract for construction was awarded in July 1939. The Massman Construction Company of Kansas City, Missouri was awarded the contract to build the bridge. The steelwork was done by the American Bridge Company of East St. Louis, Illinois. The bridge was completed in May 1942, and work on highway approaches was completed over the summer of 1942. The bridge was dedicated on August 23, 1942.
During the evening of July 29, 1944 a strong windstorm, possibly a tornado, struck the bridge and the two main spans were destroyed. Reconstruction and repair of the bridge took two years to complete and the bridge was reopened on August 24, 1946.
The bridge operated as a toll bridge until December 31, 1988. The Departments of Transportation in Missouri and Illinois jointly own and maintain the bridge.
The bridge is eligible for the National Register of Historic Places under criteria C for local significance in engineering. The bridge is an excellent example of large scale bridge engineering required for major river crossings.
MoDOT’s Historic Preservation Section is now accepting proposals for the relocation and reuse of the bridge or its components until December 31, 2018. A proposal checklist is available MoDOT’s Free Bridges website (http://www.modot.org/freebridges/). Preservation covenants may accompany the bridge.
[MoDOT]
Several people have contributed detailed shots of the bridge in Bridge Hunter because MoDOT wants to get rid of this truss as well. "The bridge - the only Mississippi River crossing for car traffic between Cape Girardeau and south St. Louis - is also a tourist attraction as much as it is a transportation asset." [
RandolfCountyHeraldTribune-2016]
To be fair to the DOTs, sand blasting and painting the insides of all those built-up, V-laced truss members has to be time consuming. See below for the results of the study that was going to start in 2016.
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| Photo uploaded by William Pamley to Bridge Hunter |
Lisa Ruble
posted four photos with the comment:
Chester Bridge
Dedicated on August 23, 1942
The main span of the Chester Bridge was blown off its piers on July 29, 1944, by tornadic forced winds. The collapse occurred around 9:45 pm and was marked by a resounding roar that could be heard for several miles.
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W. A. Smith, a brakeman for the Missouri Pacific Railroad, who lived on a bluff downstream related the following story:
"My family and I were out in the front yard watching the storm. The sky was full of lightning flashes, so we could see pretty well. The wind was so strong some of the children were hanging onto to trees to keep on their feet. We noticed a roaring like a freight train makes, only louder. Looking upstream we could see a mass of white clouds rolling over and over on a horizontal axis and approaching the bridge. Then we saw another mass of clouds spinning on a vertical axis and angling toward the bridge from upstream on the Illinois shore. They seemed to meet directly above the bridge. The red warning light went out. The bridge seemed to lift a little then fall over downstream. Sparks flew from electric wires leading to the light. The cloud mass moved toward the Missouri shore."
Smith said immediately after the high steel span fell into the water he could see the lights of an automobile approaching the gap at high speed from the Missouri side. The driver seen, however, what had happened just in time and was able to bring his automobile to a stop a few feet from the end of the pavement. Another truck loaded with furniture from Missouri had just cleared the Illinois side of the bridge when the collapse occurred. There was a report of a bolt of lightning hitting the bridge but upon examination the superstructure failed to reveal any marks.
There were no injuries or fatalities. The damage to the bridge was estimated at $650,000. The bridge, which had opened in 1942, was built for $1,385,000. - St Louis Post-Dispatch July 1944.
Reconstruction took two years and on August 24, 1946, the bridge was reopened to traffic.
The Chester Bridge can be seen in the 1967 film In The Heat Of The Night, although in the film a highway sign for the (non-existent) "Arkansas 49" highway appears on the east (Illinois) side of the bridge.
Second photo is of the original Chester Bridge in 1942. The third photo was taken after the collapse. The last photo is of the bridge in 1947.
Randolph County Illinois and Perry County Missouri
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Lisa Ruble posted
CHESTER BRIDGE Mississippi River I took this photo in July 2022 |
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Savanah Nauman
[The river is running high. The date on the photo is Mar 2018. The grain truck emphasizes how tall the truss is.] |
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Lisa Ruble posted
CHESTER BRIDGE The Chester Bridge is a continuous truss bridge connecting Missouri's Route 51 with Illinois Route 150 across the Mississippi River between Chester, Illinois and Perryville, Missouri. The bridge was dedicated on August 23, 1942. Mississippi River I took this photo of the Chester Bridge in July 2022. |
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Street View
[This July 2018 capture shows the river is still high.] |
This photo during the Flood of 2019 is what motivated this post.
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Tim Larson posted
High water at the Chester Bridge |
In Tim's photo, the water is almost to the base of the columns. Below, John caught the bridge with a low river level allowing us to see how much of the piers is covered in Tim's photo.
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John Canady posted
[His initial comment said Hannibal, MO. But a later comment indicated this photo is of the Chester bridge.] |
The above photo was cropped from this one.
I couldn't find the boat launch from which the photo was taken. Then I noticed that Water Street literally had water on it!
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Satellite
[The copyright for this image capture is 2019. So this image is from the Flood of 2019. It is unusual for a satellite image to be so recent.] |
Tall trusses have a lot of lateral torque during heavy winds. ("tornadic wind force" [RandolfCountyHeraldTribune-2016])
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Photo via Bridge Hunter
St.Louis Post-Dispatch: July 31 1944
[The paper had to get a photo from the US Coast Guard of what it looked like before it was blown down.] |
Some comments on this post confirm the storm was a tornado. Traffic had been stopped before the spans collapsed.
Tommy Burgdorf
posted four images with the comment: "1944 Collapse from Storm."
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| 1, at Facebook resolution |
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As promised, the results of the study.
The study includes a couple of nice photos of the existing bridge. Or as nice as you can get with a blue bridge against a blue sky. Again, notice how the 18-wheelers appear to be so small.
This photo is a reminder that this bridge is downstream from St. Louis so there are no locks to worry about. Thus the tows can get really big.
The U-1 plan, "which has a $191 million cost, features two 12-foot lanes and 8 to 12 foot shoulders. The bridge project would include the Horse Island Chute." If they go wtih 12' shoulders, will pedestrians be accommodated? Funding has not been identified. The current bridge, with proper maintenance, should have at least 10 more years of life. This article says the expected lifespan of the new bridge is 75 years. Somewhere else I read 100 years. [
RandolphCountyHeraldTribune-2018]
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Eric Gossman posted
I absolutely love this bridge (Chester, IL)
Calvin Keli Lunny: Struck the bridge on a stormy night in July, 1944 when a windstorm of tornadic force caused two 670-foot spans to collapse into the river. Reconstruction took two years and on August 24, 1946, the bridge was reopened to traffic. This became Chester's second toll bridge for many years.
Calvin Keli Lunny |
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Terry aud posted
Chester bridge over the mighty Mississippi! |
I noticed the soggy green channel west of the bridge. So I zoomed out some. Sure enough, that used to be were the river went. Note where the state line runs. Remember that this satellite image was captured when the river was high.
To see what the river normally looks like, I fired up Global Earth. Most of the images have the white sandbar. In this image, there is no water on the east side and in the old river bed. I include both the time control slider at the top and the image capture date at the bottom to record that they disagree. I'm going to have to pay more attention to the image date in the future when I use this tool.
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| Google Earth |
When I noticed the name Kaskaskia on the satellite map, I zoomed in to see what is there. Not much. This is the first time I have seen so many houses removed from a town grid that they now till the blocks.
It looks like if I want to get some photos of this truss bridge, then I better plan a road trip.
Jan 26, 2024. In addition to the crane in the foreground, there is a concrete pump boom floding in the right background.
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| Neal Adams posted 5:58 video |
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| Same video |
Randall Perkinson Photography
posted three photos with the comment:
A few views of the Chester Bridge over the Mississippi River connecting Missouri Route 51 to Chester, Illinois. This is the only bridge connecting Missouri and Illinois between St. Louis and Cape Girardeau.
The existing truss bridge from the 1940s has two 640' center spans.
Behind it you see a new 3 tower cable-stayed bridge under construction to replace the old bridge.
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Doug Morrell
posted three photos with the comment: "The new bridge being constructed at Chester, Illinois also crossing the Mississippi to Missouri. This bridge will replace a very narrow legacy bridge which is clearly visible and notable for its very narrow lanes and high volume of trucks."
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Ruby Belle delivers two more loads of concrete. And it will soo removed the barge with the empties. The crane hook is waiting above the empty barge.
After it hooks on a bucket, up it goes. Note that the barge with the empties is already gone.
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| @ 2:19 |
As it goes up, we get a good view of the old bridge and a crawler crane in the background.
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| 2:28 |
At the top we see both of the tower cranes and the boom of the crawler crane.
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This is a timelapse view of a pour and is more interesting.
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Dec 4, 2025:
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John Albert posted
The new Mississippi River Bridge at Chester Illinois is coming along pretty good. |
Jan 2026: It is interesting how they use some barges upstream to protect the main barge crane from the ice flow.
This view allowed me to determine that the crane was an
MLC300. Note that they have two pushboats on the downstream side of the barges. The little one is pushing hard to help the spuds resist the river's current. I can't tell if the larger one is also running.
Gary Adams Artwork
posted two photos with the comment: "The Mighty Mississippi at Chester, Illinois looking over at Perry County, Missouri . Looks like one more piece to connect Missouri to Illinois! Quite a difference between the older architecture & the new. "
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Ames Construction
posted five photos with the comment:
🎉 A major milestone in the making of the Don Welge Memorial Bridge!
Ames Construction has officially set the final girder segment over the Mississippi River—an achievement made possible by more than two and a half years of planning, precision, and teamwork.
Key progress includes:
• Installation of 350 precast deck panels
• Completion of the stay‑cable system— approximately 1 million linear feet
• Assembly and erection of 5.9 million+ pounds of structural steel
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Is the climbing frame what helps bring the tower segments down? It looks like the river is running rather high.
I wondered how they got the boom down because it is so high. They evidently jack the tower down with the boom still attached until the boom is low enough that they can reach it with a crane on a barge.
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Neal Adams posted
Tower crane is coming down on pier 6. You can watch the webcam here. Pics every half hour. |
The counterweights are gone and the boom is a lot shorter.
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Lisa Ruble posted
Photo Credit and History: Steve Larson Looking at the historic Chester Bridge (between Chester, IL and Perryville, MO across the Mississippi River). The 1942 dilapidated-but-still-in-use-Chester Bridge is now being replaced by the new, massive Don Welge Memorial Bridge. Look closely and you can see both bridges side by side. The new bridge is supposed to open this year [2026] with the old bridge set to be demolished. This view will be gone once the old bridge is demolished. Menard Correctional Center is still right next door to the north. Missouri is visible in the distance across the river. Both bridges are jointly owned by MO and IL. Tim Howard: the river is up! [Jun 14, 2026] |
Jul 11, 2026:
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KFVS-TV posted
WATCH LIVE: Officials hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new Don Welge Memorial Bridge over the Mississippi River in Chester, Ill. Tune in HERE>>> https://shorturl.at/JioCw |
Jul 27, 2026:
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Pam KM posted
Sad day. I was toodling along headed to Missouri from Illinois this evening and …. There it was. Oncoming traffic on the new bridge. I knew the time was coming, but was still surprised for some reason. I will never get to drive across the old bridge again…... A chapter of history closed. Goodbye old girl.
Tommy Burgdorf shared |
What are all of those brown spots on the new tower?
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Facebook Reel
[I was surprised to see propwash. Since the spuds on the barge are down, why does he need to do station keeping? In fact, soon in the video the propwash stops. The crane is raising the boom.] |
This looks like the lift that lowered the section that is being cut up in the above reel.
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Pam KM posted, cropped
Guess I won’t go straight…. 😊 Saying goodbye to the bridge piece by piece. ***edit: this was Wednesday evening about 6 o’clock. The main demolition date is still September 28. They are just taking the pieces off now that would damage something below when it explodes. Watch David Duke’s presentation on Thursday for full details. Melissa Cales: Just wondering, when it floods, does the Mississippi cover that road? Joe Taylor: Melissa Cales yes, I've seen it flooded many times, and they got to barricade the road off |
The "energetic felling" happened on Sep 28, 2026. Fortunately, YouTube allows you to shove the cursor over all of the talking faces.
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21:30 video @ 17:08
WATCH: Historic Chester Bridge Demolished over Mississippi River |
A better view and just the felling.
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0:42 video @ 0:05
DRONE12: Old Chester Bridge implosion
[Later is a repeat. I think it is in slow motion.] |
And now they have to clean up the mess. They are under time pressure to get enough cleaned up that 15-barge tows can get through.
Pam KM
posted five photos and two videos with the comment: "I’m not sure how many more pieces they have to take out for barges to be able go through, but there’s a good opening now. Have a lot of respect for these folks and their expertise. Thanks for doing what you do!"
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Kristy Easley: What u wanna know is why didn't it sink!? You know the Mississippi River is deeper than that. Pam KM: Kristy Easley I have been told that the depth is anywhere from 9 to 24 feet. And that right now, the river is low. But yes, I had always assumed it was really deep too, but that is not true. I think what makes it dangerous is the strong current. |
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Cindy Lou Keeler: ...it doesn't look that big until you see the men standing along side! |
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21 second video
[At first, I thought they were doing a tandem lift. Then I determined that the foreground crane has "meat on the hook."] |
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40 second video
[The video shows that the Mississippi River current is strong.] |
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Leah M Schuchard posted
Asking all of my Facebook friends near and far to please say some extra prayers for our bridge workers tonight. 🙏🏻❤️ They are working incredibly long, dangerous hours trying to get the channel opened back up for the barges, and I’m not gonna lie… my heart is very uneasy right now. These men and women are tired, under so much pressure, and doing work that most people will never fully understand. Please pray for safety, strength, clear minds and protection over every single person out there working. I love my bridge worker more than anything, and I know so many of you know and love these workers too. ❤️ Please keep them all in your prayers and pray that every single one of them makes it home safely. 🙏🏻🙏🏻 |
I wonder what a fallen truss segment weighs. And I wonder what is the draft of the
Left Coast Lifter or the big cranes that helped remove the
destroyed Francis Scott Key Bridge. If one of those heavy lift cranes has a draft under 9' (2.7m) and is available, then it could be used to lift the segments intact. That would save divers from having to torch truss members under water. (Update: in later photos below, I saw the crane lift some pretty big segments.)
4 of 39 photos
posted by Greg Anderson with the comment: "Monday afternoon (October 5th, 2026) I spent q few hours wqtching them cut free the upper and lower pieces of a section of the old bridge, move the top hqlf over by the shore on the Missouri side of the river and chop it up to be haquled off. I caught a couple of tows passing the bridge the last one was doing up river with a 5x6 set of empty barges likely to be used in the grain harvest this autumn. I also caught a south bound and then a north bound UP freight train running on the UP Chester Subdivision. While up on the Visitor Center deck I overheard the UP truck radio (volume was set high) talk about 1-2 trains that were going to pass though Chester, IL. One up on the bridge I could tell by the signal that the switch was set up for a southbound train so I got that, then moved toward the center of the main channel to get the 5x6 Tow heading upriver, then checked the railroad signal and saw a northbound UP freight was lined up so I waited a bit longer."
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[The crane hold a segment while welders free it from the lower part. I read that the river level is low this Fall.] |
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[They use two welders to cut the members with torches.] |
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[And then the barge moves over to the shore. They are using just a small fraction of the capacity of the crane because the counterweights are close to the cab rather than shoved out on that rail. (Update: I realized in the video below that it is using a fraction of its capacity because the load is close to the crane. That is, it is lifting with a small radius.)] |
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d
[They drop the segment on the shore where an excavator with a shear attachment is waiting.] |
2 of 26 photos
posted by Greg Anderson with the comment: "Tuesday midafternoon (10-6-2026) to sunset I returned to the bridge petty much had the Visitor Center to myself with fewer people stopping by to check on the bridge status every day. It looks like most of the day was spent by the salvage crew on moving sections to the west of the main navigation channel to the area just down stream of the old bridge where the shear-equipment chewed up the bridge into manage pieces and set off to be loaded on trucks to go to salvage-recycle location. I suspect they might have the last two sections processed by late Wednesday afternoon. I walked out on new bridge to check out a tow heading up river and then shot a pair of UP freight on the UP Chester Subdivision. No cutting in at dark like last week and it was pretty backlit with flat light of mid-late afternoon, and the shots were across to the far west side of the river, so nothing that rocks my boat in terms of artsy-fartsy photography."
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Watch the counterweights on the rear of the crane as the crane lowers its boom to move the load to the shore. The counterweights move out as the radius of the load increases to keep it balance. I can read MLC300 instead of MLC650, so the capacity of this crane is 300 tons.
This is the maximum extent of the counterweights. They start going back down as he sets the segment down on land.
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| Same Reel |
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1 of 48 photos posted by Greg Anderson
10-7-2026 (Wednesday morning): I was up early and decided to drive back to Chester and redeem myself after what I thought was a lackluster set of images on Tuesday and Monday. The key is lighting, and dawn and right after sunrise are optimal until sunset and dusk. I got to the Vistor Center by 6:00AM and ventured out onto the bridge a few times to get a different perspective, and for the same reason I went down along the river by to shot straight across and not downward like I get from the Visitor Center and Bridge. It was a pretty morning and I watched and photograhed the river and the crews come to life and begin another day's job. One of the big Manitowoc Cranes are dropped to the deck level for sevice or repair and was still down when I left around noon. In addition to the primary proj3ct boats and barges, there were a few long-haul tows, but also a number of private "boats" of cruisers heading down river throught the morning, including one cluster of 4-5 boats that appear to be traveling together. |
Tommy Burgdorf
shared 13 photos.
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I crossed this bridge in 1969 or 70. It had wood boards for the car tires. Scarey.
ReplyDeleteKasualBob must have misidentified the bridge he crossed. The Chester bridge had not wood on it. See pictures above.
Delete