Helena Bridge

Helena Bridge
Coordinates 34°29′48″N 90°35′17″W / 34.49667°N 90.58806°W / 34.49667; -90.58806
Carries 2 lanes of US 49
Crosses Mississippi River
Locale Helena, Arkansas and Lula, Mississippi
ID number 000000000002899
Characteristics
Design Cantilever bridge
Total length 5,204 feet (1,586 m)
Width 28 feet (9 m)
Longest span 804 feet (245 m)
Clearance below 119 feet (36 m)
History
Opened July 27, 1961
Statistics
Daily traffic 6,000 (2007)
Location of Helena, Arkansas

The Helena Bridge is a cantilever bridge carrying U.S. Route 49 across the Mississippi River between Helena, Arkansas and Lula, Mississippi.

The main cantilever span was modeled on the similar Benjamin G. Humphreys Bridge which had been built downstream by Arkansas and Mississippi roughly two decades earlier. However, the river navigation issues that led to the replacement of the Humphreys Bridge with the Greenville Bridge do not apply to the Helena Bridge, as the river curve here is far less severe than the one just upstream from the Humphreys and Greenville Bridges.

The bridge had a stated construction cost of $14 million, and was opened as a toll bridge in 1961, replacing the previous ferry. The total length of the bridge is slightly less than a mile. [1][2] The bridge superstructure suffered its first substantial damage from a barge accident in July 1997.[3]

References

  1. ↑ "Helena Celebrates! July 27, 1961", Arkansas Highways, Vol. 9, no. 8 (August 1961).
  2. ↑ "Helena Bridge Adds One More River Gateway, Helps Helena", Delta Democrat-Times, March 31, 1963. Accessed 2016-01-18 via Newspapers.com.
  3. ↑ "Mississippi River bridge out after hit; casino artery severed", 'Associated Press in Log Cabin Democrat, July 17, 1997.

See also


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