1967 I-55+I-44+I-64(+I-70) Poplar Street Bridge over Mississippi River at St. Louis

(Bridge Hunter; no Historic Bridges; John A Weeks III; Satellite)

Officially named: Congressman William L. Clay Sr. Bridge

Since I'm doing I-55 at Memphis, it is only fair that I also do I-55 at St. Louis. I-70 has been rerouted to its own bridge.

The MacArthur Bridge is in the background.

Street View of Poplar Street Bridge in St. Louis
"Built 1967; reconstructed 1993, shifted to add 5th lane each way 2018" 600' span [Bridge Hunter] Judging from street views, the 2018 expansion did not add a shoulder.

Missouri's Historic Highways posted three photos with the comment: "July 1965 - St. Louis. Including Poplar Street Bridge."

1
Bridges Now and Then posted
Early in building of the Poplar Street Bridge over the Mississippi River at St. Louis, July, 1965. (Missouri's Historic Highways)

2

3

John Weeks
[This bridge used to carry I-55, I-44, I-64 and I-70 plus a lot of local traffic during rush hour. It also carried the US-66 designation from 1967 to 1977. According to Google Maps, it also carries US-40. In 2014, traffic for I-70 was moved to its own bridge.]

 

Missouri's Historic Highways posted
Poplar Street Bridge 1966

Comments on the above post
 https://goo.gl/maps/pqDiKQNRSnwbzCbj8

Photo from Missouri State Archives via Bridge Hunter
Missouri's Historic Highways posted
March 28, 1967 – The final box girder connecting the Missouri and Illinois ends of the Poplar Street Bridge was put in place. The 56-foot long girder weighs 43 tons. Engineers wanted to preserve views of the Arch, so they used a box girder design. The pavement rests on a steel grid constructed over the girders. In March 2018, workers picked up and slid the four eastbound lanes nine feet to the south to make room for a fifth lane in each direction.
Chris Briles: Only added a 5th lane Eastbound.
Tim Kridel: I wonder if they used dish soap to help slide the lanes 9 feet. That's what the contractor used in Columbia to slide a new I-70 overpass into place: 
https://www.columbiamissourian.com/.../collection...
Brad Burnworth: Tim Kridel they almost did! They used “Tri Flow” found in an aerosol can at hardware stores. A lot of research went into what product to use. Dawn was the original material of choice until it was found that Tri Flow has a slightly more viscous property.

Randy Hitt commented on Brad's comment
The same lubricant Mammoet used on moving the 40,000 ton sarcophagus at Chernobyl.

Photo from Missouri State Archives via Bridge Hunter

 

Photo from MoDOT via Bridge Hunter

Street View
In 2018 the piers were widened and the eastbound superstructure was slid 9' to the south over the course of 2.5 hours. "Based on a review of highway bridge replacements to date, this project is the largest lateral bridge slide by deck area and the 2nd longest lateral slide by bridge length in the United States." [abc-utc.viu.edu]

abc-utc.viu.edu
[This link contains a video and viewgraphs for a presentation about the project. I did not watch. The above graphic was enough information for me.]

hdrinc
[Filling in the new gap to make the fifth lane in the eastbound direction.]

(new window)

Was this the bridge before 1967? I miss Bridge Hunter. It has been broke since Mar 22, 2023.

Vintage St. Louis & Route 66 posted
A rainy day on Route 66 with a 1964 Chevy coming towards us and a 62 Chevy in the foreground on 3rd Street. [Since then, I-44 has been built over 3rd Street.]