Mississippi River, cited as the natural boundary for US divisions, either on west or east sections has made its mark in US popular culture. The construction of different Mississippi River Bridges carries several routes, and interstates made traveling a wonderful experience for the citizens. Until this very moment, new bridges are conscientiously being transported and carefully planned to help ease out traffic in other states.
One of the most popular bridges crossing the Mississippi River is the Rock Island Government Bridge built in 1856. It was the first bridge across the Mississippi River to connect Rock Island, Illinois, Davenport, and Iowa. It has two sets of railroad tracks above auto lanes. This was the bridge rammed by Effie Afton and went up in flames. Abraham Lincoln defended the railroad against a lawsuit filed by steamboat interests and navigation.
Stone Arch is the first bridge upstream built in1883 for Great Northern Railway. It connects Mississippi River and Saint Anthony Falls. It is now used for pedestrian and bicycle bridge.
Eads is the most historic and one of the oldest bridges. It is a combination of road and railway bridge. It was the first to use steel through cantilever construction. It was responsible for the caisson disease or bends outbreak because it used pneumatic caissons. The construction killed 15 workers and injured 77 people.
Poplar St. Bridge, also known as the Popular St. Bridge, was completed in 1967. It is the busiest downtown bridge with 120,000 vehicles passing over it daily. It is a steel girder bridge with 8 lanes.
MacArthur is a narrow truss bridge with a monster curve. It is one of the oldest bridges built in 1917. It is now used as a rail traffic bridge.
Martin Luther Bridge was built in 1951. It is the second newer bridge, also known as the Veteran's Bridge. It has an overall length of 4000 feet with a cantilever style. It was refurbished during the 1980's.
Santa Fe Bridge is also known as the Fort Madison Bridge. It is the largest double deck swing span bridge in the world. It was completed in 1927. It serves as an automobile traffic bridge. It is owned by BNSF railway.
Hernando de Soto Bridge is known for its unique structural letter shape. The arches shaped the letter M and it made it into Guinness Book of World Records. It carries Interstate 40 connecting Memphis, Tennessee and Arkansas. It opened in 1973.
Memphis and Arkansas Bridge is the longest Warren truss bridge in the US. It carries Interstate 55 to Memphis. It is a cantilever through truss bridge, which opened in 1949.
Frisco is the longest cantilever truss railroad bridge in North America. It was opened in 1892. It was formerly known as the Memphis Bridge. It has an overall length of 4,887 feet.
Clark Bridge is also known as the Super Bridge. It is a cable stay bridge built in 1994. It was named after William Clark. It carries Route 67 with an overall length of 4,620 feet.
Norbert Becky is the first bridge to use light emitting diode lights. It is also known as simply Becky Bridge. It was completed in 1972 carrying Iowa Highway 92 and Illinois Route 92. It has an overall length of 3,018 feet.
Black Hawk is also known as the Lansing Bridge. It is a cantilever trough truss bridge with an overall length of 1,653 feet. It was named after Chief Black Hawk, an appointed war chief. It is listed in Historic American Engineering Record.
Julien Dubuque Bridge Connects Dubuque, Iowa and Illinois. It is an uninterrupted steel truss arch bridge. It carries 2 lanes of US Route 20 with an overall length of about 5760 feet. It is also listed in National Register of Historic Places. Last June 2008, it got stuck by 15 barges.
Savanna – Sabula Bridge is a steel truss through deck bridge carrying US Highway 52. It has an overall length of 2482 feet. It was opened in 1932.
Bridge 9340 is also known as I-35W Mississippi River Bridge. It was the one that collapsed in August 1, 2007 killing 13 people and leaving many others injured. It was an 8-lane steel truss arch bridge with an overall length of 1,907 feet.