Hernando de Soto Bridge

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

**Hernando de Soto Bridge**

Carries	6 lanes of I-40
Crosses	Mississippi River
Locale	West Memphis, Arkansas and Memphis, Tennessee
Design	through arch bridge
Longest span	274.32 meters (900 feet) each
Total length	5,954.27 meters (19,535 feet)
Width	27.43 meters (90 feet)
Opening date	August 2, 1973
Maps and aerial photos Street map from Google Maps or Yahoo! Maps Topographic map from TopoZone Aerial image or topographic map from TerraServer-USA Satellite image from Google Maps or Microsoft Virtual Earth

The Hernando de Soto Bridge is a through arch bridge carrying Interstate 40 across the Mississippi River between West Memphis, Arkansas and Memphis, Tennessee. It is often called the "M Bridge" as the arches resemble the letter M, which is fitting for being located at Memphis. Memphians also call the bridge the "New Bridge", as it is newer than the Memphis-Arkansas Bridge (carrying Interstate 55) downstream.

The bridge is named for 16th century Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto who explored this stretch of the Mississippi River, and died the south of Memphis. His body was believed to have been buried in the Mississippi River after his death (although, according to legend, his body lay at the bottom of Lake Chicot in Arkansas, an oxbow lake of the Mississippi River about 130 miles south of Memphis.)