Great River Bridge

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Great River Bridge
Carries	4 lanes of US 34
Crosses	Mississippi River
Locale	Burlington, Iowa and Gulf Port, Illinois
Maintained by	Iowa Department of Transportation
Design	Cable-stayed bridge
Longest span	660 feet (201 m)
Total length	1,245 feet (379 m)
Width	27 feet (8 m)
Clearance below	60 feet (18 m)
Opening date	October 4, 1993
Coordinates	40°48′43″N, 91°05′44″W

The Great River Bridge is an asymmetrical, one-tower cable-stayed bridge over the Mississippi River. It carries U.S. Highway 34 from Burlington, Iowa to the small town of Gulf Port, Illinois.

Construction began in 1989, but work on the main tower did not begin until April 1990. The main tower is 370 feet (113 meters) in height from the top of the tower to the riverbed. During the Great Flood of 1993, construction continued despite record crests on the Mississippi below. The final cost of the bridge was $49 million, about 16 percent over budget.

The Great River Bridge replaced the MacArthur Bridge, an aging two-lane toll steel bridge built in 1917. The new bridge is five lanes wide (two westbound, three eastbound) and provides a safer crossing across the Mississippi River than the old bridge.

[edit] See also

• List of crossings of the Upper Mississippi River

[edit] References

• Fields, Ron. "Bridge spans a decade." The Hawk Eye Newspaper, http://www.edkraemer.com/news/news_detail.asp?id=115 via Edward Kraemer & Sons, Inc. August 22, 2004. Retrieved January 14, 2006.

[edit] External links

• Civil Engineering Database

Bridges of the Mississippi River
Upstream Keithsburg Rail Bridge	Great River Bridge	Downstream Burlington Rail Bridge