Mark Twain Memorial Bridge
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| Mark Twain Memorial Bridge | |
 |
|
| Carries | 4 lanes of I-72 and US 36 |
|---|---|
| Crosses | Mississippi River |
| Locale | Hannibal, Missouri |
| Longest span | 640 feet (195 m) |
| Total length | 4,491 feet (1,369 m) |
| Width | 86 feet (26 m) |
| AADT | 11,000 |
| Opening date | September 16, 2000 |
| Coordinates | |
The Mark Twain Memorial Bridge is a bridge over the Mississippi River at Hannibal, Missouri, childhood home of Mark Twain, for whom the bridge is named. The current bridge, north of the original site, was finished in 2000; the original bridge was demolished. The bridge currently carries traffic for Interstate 72 and U.S. Highway 36. The state of Missouri has put up a stone picture of Twain on the Missouri side of the bridge.
[edit] The original bridge
The original bridge (also called the Mark Twain Memorial Bridge) was opened in 1936 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt and entered Missouri at the foot of Cardiff Hill which appeared in Twain's books The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. A crosswalk crossed the highway, connecting the Twain boyhood home with the lighthouse at the top of the hill. It originally carried only US 36, but with the extension of Interstate 72 west across Missouri, a new bridge was needed and was built to the north of the original bridge.
[edit] See also
| Bridges of the Mississippi River | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Upstream Wabash Bridge |
Mark Twain Memorial Bridge  |
Downstream Champ Clark Bridge  |
|
