I lived in Swansea a few years back and heard rumors of the upper deck of the MacArthur bridge being opened up for foot traffic. Have you heard anything about this? I left right after the McKinley closed and the Eads opened to auto traffic. I always enjoyed the bridges in St Louis, especially the remnants of the McKinley and the associated right of way that remains. Thanks
I went to the ball game last night [:(] so missed this post until this morning.
see the following web site, it answers the question about the MacArthur bridge http://www.builtstlouis.net/crumble31a.html
I always wondered about the span missing on the upper deck and this answers it.
I don’t know how many wrecks I have nearly had crossing the Poplar Street bridge paying more attention to a big freight drag hauling out of downtown and over the Mississippi on the MacArthur!!
The upper deck of the Eads bridge now is open to traffic (the lower is Metrolink trains). It gets closed for big fair days like July 4th so you can park at the Casino Queen in East St. Louis and walk accoss. I stood in the middle of the span this past 4th with my boys and watched a Naval F18 fly low up the river at just under Mach 1 for the air show. Awesome sight to behold with the Arch and the river as a backdrop.
There is talk that the McKinley will reopen to traffic at some point after a rehab.
I have actually ridden the Metrolink across the Eads a few times. What a cool ride, huh. I feel you on almost causing a major traffic accident on the Poplar by getting distracted by something “shiney” on the MacArthur. I found another site somewhere else with a lot of pictures that were taken recently from the upper deck. There was even a few close ups from where the span was removed. I figured with the sharp turns that it would never be opened to auto traffic again. I don’t know if you have seen the approach to the McKinley (railroad) on the Illinois side. It is a wooden trestle that is a couple of miles long with some of the sections missing with just the rails suspended in the air. If I remember correctly you can take route 3 through Brooklyn [;)] and it should pass right under it (if it is still there). It is a really impressive sight! My wife is the Air Force and we are trying to get back to Scott AFB. Some really cool railfanning in the area. Anyhow, thanks for the info.
Smitty
The wooden trestle is still there, but how it is still standing I don’t know. The rails are still floating in mid air!!
BTW, the layout is looking great. The backdrop is definately Illinois.[^]
Here is the link for the other site with the MacArthur pics. I guess they are removing the sections before they remove themselves?
Smitty, this is on the St. Louis Post Dispatch web site today!
Thanks for the update. I was able to get a few picks of it about 5 years back. I wish I was there now to catch as many pics as humanly possible of the trestle. Anybody that has seen this thing understands how impressive it is. It probably is about time it comes down,though.[:(]
Smitty
Wow! That bridge is in pretty bad shape! Wouldn’t want to walk across let alone try and drive a car. [:0]