The Poplar Street Bridge

The Poplar Street Bridge will cross the Mississippi, between East St. Louis and the central business district of St. Louis. In addition to carrying Interstate Routes 55 and 70, it will be the terminal for Interstate 44 from the west and Interstate 64 from the east. This will be the first long span orthotropic steel plate deck girder bridge to be constructed in the United States. A contract for the substructure has already been awarded, and the superstructure will be advertised for bids in mid-1964. At the Missouri end of the bridge is the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, a National Park commemorating the Louisiana Purchase, which will be completed, with its 630-ft stainless steel arch, in 1965. The view of the river from the Memorial will be framed on the north by the fine old Eads Bridge, a deck type arch truss design built in 1874, and on the south by the new bridge. Immediately west of the Memorial and adjacent to the central business district is an 80-acre area being redeveloped around a 50,000-seat sports stadium, which will be completed about the same time as the bridge.