Jefferson Barracks Bridge

Jefferson Barracks Bridge
Jefferson Barracks Bridge during the Great Flood of 1993.
Coordinates
Carries	6 lanes of I‑255 / US 50
Crosses	Mississippi River
Locale	St. Louis, Missouri and Columbia, Illinois
Other name(s)	J.B. Bridge
Characteristics
Design	Twin tied arch bridges
Total length	3,998 feet (1,219 m)
Longest span	910 feet (277 m)
Clearance below	88 feet (27 m)
History
Opened	Westbound lanes: September 30, 1983 (September 30, 1983) Eastbound lanes: 1992 (1992)
Statistics
Daily traffic	63,199 (2008)

The Jefferson Barracks Bridge, officially the Jefferson Barracks Memorial Arch Bridge, is a bridge that spans the Mississippi River on the south side of St. Louis. It is a pair of 909-foot (277 m) long arch bridges. The first bridge was built in 1983, the south bridge opened in 1992. A delay occurred during the construction of the second bridge when a crane dropped a section of it into the river and it had to be rebuilt.

They replaced the former steel truss toll bridge built in 1941 that originally carried U.S. Route 50. It carries traffic for Interstate 255 (part of the St. Louis beltway) and U.S. Route 50. Prior to the construction of the first bridge, river crossings in this area were made via the Davis Street Ferry in the Carondelet neighborhood of St. Louis.

The names comes from the nearby Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery, itself originally part of the large Jefferson Barracks military complex, established in 1826 and decommissioned in 1946.

See also

• List of crossings of the Upper Mississippi River