1949+1984 I-55(+US-40) Bridge over Mississippi River at Memphis, TN

(Bridge Hunter; Historic Bridges; John A Weeks III; 3D Satellite)

US-40 traffic has been moved to The New Bridge.

John Weeks
The Memphis-Arkansas Memorial Bridge was built in 1949 as part of US-40. It replaced the narrow traffic lanes that were attached to each side of the Harahan Bridge. The bridge later became part of the Interstate Highway system when I-55 was extended into Memphis.

C Hanchey Flickr, License: Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC) 

Memphis and Arkansas Bridge

Historic 1949 bridge carrying I-55 (formerly U.S. Highway 40) over the Mississippi River between Memphis, Tennessee and West Memphis, Tennessee. The bridge is a continuous Warren truss with verticals.

 

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2001 (Structure #01000139)

 

In 2006, the bridge was included in the Federal Highway Administration (FWHA) list of Nationally and Exceptionally Significant Features of the Federal Interstate Highway System.

Lloyd Finle posted
Harahan Bridge over the Mississippi River in Memphis, Tennessee. The image, taken around 1956, also shows two other bridges: the Frisco Bridge and the Memphis & Arkansas Bridge.

Randall James: The Frisco bridge, currently owned and operated by BNSF RR, was built in 1892, the middle bridge, the Frisco bridge was the first bridge built over the Mississippi River south of St Louis, the Harahan bridge on the left was built in 1914 & currently owned and operated by the Union Pacific RR, over 60-70 freight trains a day uses both bridges.

[The road bridge is on the right.]

Joel Harmon: Randall James and Big River Crossing (the pedestrian walkway) uses what had been the westbound lane of the Harahan (back when it carried vehicle traffic). Glad to have a pedestrian crossing in Memphis/West Memphis. Wife and I walked on it for the first time ever on a visit to Memphis last winter. Really enjoyed that on our visit there.

Cristie Upshaw Travis: The Memphis-Arksansas/I-55 bridge is slated for replacement with construction anticipated to start in 2026. It will be named "King's Crossing" in honor of Martin Luther King Jr., BB King, and Elvis. https://wreg.com/.../new-i-55-bridge-at-memphis-now.../....

[The $800m bridge is supposed to open 2031.]

Since it is supposed to start in less than a year, I looked for a rendering of the design for the new bridge. This is the only image I found.]

Terry Holder posted
Good morning Memphis Tennessee
[Going upbound. Just behind this bridge is the BNSF/Frisco and the Harahan Bridges. Peaking through the piers on the left is the I-40 Bridge.]

 

Henry Gulden posted
VALLEY VOYAGER

I never realized that I-55 crossed the Mississippi River twice until I saw Kimuel's post below. When I looked at the satellite image for I-55 at St. Louis, it was obviously not the same bridge. That is when I read the rest of the post's comment and saw "Memphis TN."

Kimuel Boyd posted, cropped
Traffic going under the 55 bridge Memphis TN.

 

Construction began 1945, opened to traffic December 19, 1949 ; Refurbished 1984 [Bridge Hunter]

 

John Weeks
While the bridge does have sidewalks on each side of the highway, those sidewalks are no longer open for use by the public. As a result, there is no way for pedestrians or bicycles to cross the Mississippi River at Memphis. There is a proposal to add a trail crossing to the Harahan Bridge by installing a new deck on one of the inactive traffic lanes. [That installation has happened]

This is the road bridge that is next to the BNSF/Frisco and UP/(RI+MP+SSW) railroad bridges. Like those bridges, this bridge has a long approach on the west side over a flood plain.

3D Satellite

Arkansas Highway & Transportation Department via Bridge Hunter

historic-memphis
Three bridges at Memphis, vintage postcard ... Collection Gene Gill

Historic Bridges calls this a cantilever truss. But all other sources call it a 5-span continuous truss. I'm surprised by Historic Bridges description because Nathan Holth is normally careful about using "cantilever" vs. "continuous" in bridge descriptions.  This bridge was designed by Modjeski and Masters. A 5-span continuous truss was probably bleeding edge in the 1940s because computers were not yet available to do the computations. Actually, this truss bridge was old fashioned because "After World War II most bridge designers increasingly turned to concrete or steel deck girder bridges; however, the firm of Modjeski and Masters chose to use a Warren through truss design for [this bridge], a popular bridge type in the mid nineteenth and early twentieth century." [MemphisHeritage]

A historic bridges survey via Historic Bridges
[It is a 5-span continuous truss "with polygonal top chords that is 2,824.7 feet long (spans are 359.2, 790.4, 621, 621, and 433.1 feet long)." The pier placement was dictated by the upstream railroad bridges. This report is near the end of Chapter6b via TDOT1. (TDOT2)]

Terry Holder posted
Good evening Memphis Tennessee
[You can see all four bridges because the M is peaking through under the left spans. But the reason for saving this photo is that the tow struck me as rather large for going upbound. Some of the comments indicate that my reaction was correct.]
Terry Holder: 25 loads and 17 empties six wide 7 long.
The o h ingram. [The photo confirms this is a triple screw. 9200 hp]
Used to be the Robert A Kyle.
Brutus Ihrie: Channel 3 News in Memphis said the materials to fix the break will arrive towards end of the month. TN DOT hopes it will reopen no later than July 15.

MemphisHeritage
[I read that the lanes are 12' wide. That surprises me because they look narrower. At least this bridge allows traffic to pass a stalled vehicle. The original US-40 crossing on the 1916 Harahan Bridge had just one lane in each direction cantilevered off the sides of the truss.]

Street View

modjeski

Bridges Now and Then posted
"Construction of the new concrete vehicle viaduct on the Arkansas side of the Harahan Bridge to replace the wooden one built over twenty years earlier, 1929. The bridge over the Mississippi River opened in 1916 and connected Memphis, Tennessee, with Arkansas, carrying both rail and vehicular traffic. Photographer: Bolton, 119 Madison Avenue, Memphis."

Mike Leneke: Is this the same viaduct that I-55 travels on now days?

Dennis DeBruler commented on Mike's comment
It must be, https://maps.app.goo.gl/YCBxjpj5jQUBncqY8. The approach viaduct for the Harahan Bridge is a steel trestle. So the dates in the description are very wrong.