These are notes that I am writing to help me learn our industrial history. They are my best understanding, but that does not mean they are a correct understanding.
Wednesday, January 17, 2018
1929-1970,1999 Trail/US-66 Chain of Rocks Bridges over the Mississippi river north of St. Louis
Some comments indicate that you should park on the Illinois side, not the Missouri side. On the Missouri side, car windows have been smashed and items stolen, frequently. And it sounds like even on the Illinois side you should make sure that anything valuable is hidden in a spare tire or something quite clever. Just putting something in the trunk won't stop the thieves. It is probably best to leave a window rolled down so that they won't have to smash it.
William A. Shaffer posted
Chain of Rocks Bridge - St. Louis, MO (Photo by William A. Shaffer) If you're from the St. Louis Area, chances are you drove over this bridge once or twice. St. Louis has many bridges that span the Mississippi River, but only one with this terrible curve in it! Steve PorterGreat picture of The Curve. Imagine two trucks trying to navigate it from different directions. William A. ShafferI think the trailers were shorter back then, but it would still be a tight fit. I remember orange flashing lights somewhere around this spot, too. William A. ShafferSteve Porter, I believe I was shooting toward the Missouri side.
Both the strange 22-degree turn in the bridge and the Chain of Rocks owe their existence to glaciers. During the last ice age, the Mississippi River was re-routed from its original channel in soft river sediment (farther to the east in present day Illinois) to its present channel over resistant (mainly limestone) bedrock. The river has yet to wear down the bedrock and this feature is still a rough spot in the river. If the bridge had been built straight, the engineers would have had to choose between two problematic routes. One route would have put the bridge in a location where it couldn’t have been solidly founded on bedrock. The other route would have posed problems to river navigation by not allowing barges to line up with the current, possibly causing them to collide with the bridge. Although this bend was troublesome for motor traffic, it served as a compromise between geological and navigational concerns.
If a bridge were built in a similar location today, the extra expense to make the bridge straight would certainly be spent. In the day of the Old Chain of Rocks Bridge, cars were narrower, slower, and traffic was less of a concern. Today’s foundation piers can also be driven more efficiently and to deeper depths. The old bridge is still structurally sound after all its years. The unusual the bend in the fifteen-span bridge definitely adds character and doesn’t give pedestrians or cyclists any grief.
[conorw]
John has an alternative explanation for the bend:
The interesting feature of the Chain Of Rocks Bridge is the 24 degree bend about halfway across the river. The promoters had purchased land on each side of the river, but the parcels were not directly across the river from each other. The plan was to build the bridge on a diagonal to the river. The US Army Corps of Engineers objected to having a bridge cross the navigation channel at an angle. As a result, the section of the bridge crossing the navigation channel was built straight across the river, and then the remaining part of the bridge was built on the diagonal to meet up with the Missouri shore. The result is the 24 degree bend where the straight and diagonal sections meet. [WeeksBridge]
Route 66 Postcards posted three images with the comment:
We have had a couple of requests to post postcards and photos of the Chain of Rocks Bridge, St. Louis, Illinois. The Chain of Rocks Bridge is Route 66’s best-known bridge, an alluring and enduring symbol of the open road. Its name is derived from a 17-mile part of the Mississippi River that contains a series of rocky ledges, dangerous to river navigation. The bridge, just over one mile long, was privately built in 1929 as a toll bridge for $2 million. It boasts two distinctive features: The first, is a 24-degree turn in the middle that was engineered to quell protests from riverboat captains complaining about the treacherous conditions navigating the bridge’s massive concrete piers and water intake towers. The other feature is two ornately-styled pumping stations, one for Missouri River water and one for Mississippi River water. These are not part of the bridge but can be seen in the first photo.
Low income put Chain of Rocks into receivership, but it was rescued in 1935 when highway officials routed US 66 over it. It carried the Mother Road’s traffic for 30 years. But when a free interstate bridge was opened just north of it in 1966, The Chain of Rocks quickly declined. With maintenance costs far exceeding tolls, the City of Madison, its owner since 1939, closed the bridge in 1970. For many years, the only people who crossed it were adventurous trespassers.
New life came to the aging landmark in 1997 when it was leased by Trailnet, a not-for-profit organization that maintains a series of recreational trails in Illinois and Missouri. Trailnet immediately embarked on an ambitious and successful program to repair the bridge and its surface. As a result, the bridge reopened to pedestrian and bicycle traffic in September 1998. "It links two states—Illinois and Missouri. The bridge is short and narrow, only 1 mile long by 24 feet wide, but it now carries bikes and pedestrians instead of cars across the river."
These three images are courtesy of the Vintage St. Louis & Route 66 page.
[The comments contain several more images of the bridge.]
Kirk Daniel: I’d have to say, part of this write up is wrong. The bend of the bridge is there because they couldn’t hit bedrock on the one side, after it was already sunk on the other. In order to make them meet, a bend in the middle was created. From all I’ve heard, that bend had nothing to do with navigating or piers being in the way of shipping. I was just there in 2017, and was with my parents when we drove over it in the early 60’s.
[One comment supports the navigation reason, but another points out that navigation uses the Chain of Rocks Canal. And I don't understand why putting part of the bridge on an angle would help navigation.]
Vance Sawyer: I'll add to the controversy of the bend. I had read it had something to do with land rights. possibly with native American tribes 🙃
1
2
3
1 of 6 photos posted by Vintage St. Louis & Route 66 June 2, 1942 - The War Department ordered the Village of Madison, Illinois to repaint the Chain of Rocks Bridge over the Mississippi River. The bridge was originally silver and part of it had been painted red. The government said the bridge was too conspicuous from the air and ordered that it be painted green or another subdued color. Traces of olive green are still there. John Brase: Is the building a toll station? Michael Chance: John Brase - yes. Torn down many years ago. Robert Marrs: I grew up in Glasgow Village. Crossed the bridge many times to visit family friends in Granite City. It was closed off by time I went to high school, early 70's. We partied on it a lot after that.
In the satellite image, you can see a ripple just downstream from the bridge. More on that later.
Street View
I zoomed in so that you can better see the two towers. Also note that you can see a ripple in the water.
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (source link was broken)
Missouri's Historic Highways posted February 26, 1970 - The Old Chain of Rocks Bridge at St. Louis was closed for repair work on a hole at the east end. It never re-opened to traffic. Since the new bridge to the north had opened in September 1966, traffic had fallen to just a few hundred cars per day on the bridge that once carried Highway 66 across the Mississippi. Today, the historic bridge that once carried US 66 is one of the world’s longest pedestrian and bicycle spans.
Bryan Couch posted two photos with the comment: "Old Water Pump Station @ the Chain of Rocks."
1
2
Bryan Couch commented on his post
Since 1915 that tower has been there and this one since 1890..Second used as backup for #1 Pump
The Chain of Rocks Bridge spans the Mississippi River on the north edge of St. Louis. For a time, it was used as part of historic Route 66 to cross over the river. Once a motor route, it now only takes walkers and bikers over the river.
The Gateway Arch is visible downriver from the bridge. In addition, there are two castle-like water intakes for the St. Louis Waterworks.
The "water ripple" is caused by Dam #27. It raises the water level for the intake to the bypass canal on the east side of the river. At the end of the canal is Lock #27. "Locks #27 are the busiest locks on the Mississippi River given that they are located south of the convergence with the Missouri River, so these locks handle the combined cargo flow from the Mississippi River, Missouri River, and Illinois River." [WeeksLock]
In 2006 we were a group from Norway driving the entire Route 66. We sent seventeen old (1953-1966) Norwegian registered American cars by boat from Norway to the US. One of the highlights of the trip was when we were allowed to cross Mississippi on the "Old Chain of Rocks Bridge". The bridge is usually exclusive to cyclists and pedestrians I took pictures of my '53 Chevrolet Bel Air on the Illinois-Missouri border. Have you been there with your car?
M.m. JonesDuring the 1970s, Army demolition teams considered blowing it up just for practice. Open to vehicles as part of some paid group tours, primarily motorcycles.
[The comments talk about other groups that have crossed and provide photos of this group at other locations.]
AJ Grigg shared
Vintage St. Louis & Route 66 posted August 2, 1966 - For the first time since it opened in 1929, drivers could cross the Chain of Rocks Bridge without paying a toll. The Missouri Highway Department was building a new bridge to the north and demanded that the tolls on the bridge be dropped since the bonds had been paid off. The photo was taken after the tolls had been dropped but before the new Interstate 270 bridge opened just to the north.
William A. Shaffer posted two photos with the comment:
The Chain of Rocks Bridge at St. Louis, MO and the actual Chain of Rocks, for which the bridge is named.(All Photos by William A. Shaffer)I remember as a kid going over the Chain of Rocks Bridge. It had the bend as shown in one of these photographs. What I had forgotten what how narrow the bridge actually was. A couple of years ago, I walked across the bridge. The bridge has been closed to vehicular traffic for years. It really was built to accommodate Model T's!
1 William A. Shaffer posted a black & white version of this photo. [There are several comments about how the bend made it particularly nerve racking to drive across this bridge.]
Chain of Rocks Bridge - St. Louis, MO. (11.14.10).
(Photo by William A. Shaffer).
The Chain of Rocks Bridge was famous (or infamous) for the turn in the middle of the Mississippi River! And it also seemed to be very narrow!
Darel Maden posted Illinois John Weber: Was there a couple years ago. Watch yourself on the East Saint Louis side. Route 66 used that bridge after it quit using the bridge that went through Saint Louis. I don't know if the original bridge still exists.
Randy Perkinson posted three photos with the comment:
Old Chain of Rocks Bridge over the Mississippi River upstream of Saint Louis, Missouri.
This bridge was constructed as a toll bridge in 1929. The mile long bridge has a 22-degree bend in it to provide better navigation with downstream water intake structures.
In 1936 US Route 66 was rerouted over the bridge causing toll profits to soar.
In the early 1940's the bright red sections of the bridge were painted a dull green to make it less visible from the air during World Warr II.
The bridge was closed in 1970 when the I-270 bridge just upstream opened. In 1999 it was reopened for pedestrian and cyclist use only.
No comments:
Post a Comment