New Chain of Rocks Bridge

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New Chain of Rocks Bridge
New bridge in foreground, old bridge background
Carries	4 lanes of I-270
Crosses	Mississippi River
Locale	St. Louis, Missouri
AADT	56,800^[1]
Opening date	1966
Coordinates	38°45′53″N, 90°10′25″W

The New Chain of Rocks Bridge is a pair of bridges across the Mississippi River on the north edge of St. Louis, Missouri. It was constructed in 1966 to bypass the Chain of Rocks Bridge immediately to the south. It originally carried traffic for Bypass US 66 and currently carries traffic for Interstate 270. The bridge opened to traffic on September 2, 1966.^[2]

The original Chain of Rocks Bridge was a narrow bridge with a 22 degree bend midway over the river. Reportedly, two tractor-trailers could not pass each other on that bridge. The Illinois Department of Transportation marks Historic Route 66 over the New Chain of Rocks Bridge (with a "Spur historic route" to the original), but it is only considered a way to make the route continuous.

[edit] Notes

Until 1994, locals heavily used this crossing due to the constant problems of the Old Clark Bridge.
On August 10, 1994, a broken beam caused the closure of 3 of the 4 lanes on the bridge for a few days. The lanes were reopened on August 14, 1994.
In the near future, IDOT wants to replace this span as a part of widening I-270 from 4 lanes to 6 lanes from I-255 to Lilac.^[3]