Great River Bridge
| Great River Bridge | |
| Spans | Mississippi River |
| Lanes | 2×2 |
| Total length | ~870 meters |
| Main span | 201 meters |
| Bridge deck height | 18 meters |
| Opening | 04-10-1993 |
| Traffic intensity | 10,500 mvt/day |
| Location | Map |
According to indexdotcom, the Great River Bridge is a cable- stayed bridge in the United States, located on the border of the states of Iowa and Illinois. The bridge spans the Mississippi River at Burlington.
Characteristics
The Great River Bridge seen from Iowa.
The Great River Bridge is approximately 870 meters long in total, with a main bridge of 379 meters, with a main span of 201 meters. The bridge has one H-shaped pylon of 113 meters high that stands in the middle of the river. US 34 in Iowa runs across the bridge, which becomes US 34 in Illinois, locally a 2×2 lane freeway, towards Illinois is also a weaver strip. There is a connection on both sides of the bridge, the viaducts of which are part of the total bridge length.
History
The first bridge at this location was the MacArthur Bridge, which opened in 1917. This was a steel cantilever truss bridge. The bridge was in bad condition and turned out to be badly anchored in the mud bottom of the Mississippi, when two trucks drove over the bridge, the bridge moved dangerously. The new bridge was constructed in the early 1990s and opened to traffic on October 4, 1993, amid severe flooding that hit the Mississippi River throughout 1993. Construction cost $49 million.
Traffic intensities
Every day, 10,500 vehicles cross the bridge, which is therefore lightly driven. The city of Burlington, Iowa is of reasonable size, but there are no larger towns on the Illinois side, and US 34 is not a major through route.
I-74 Bridge
| I-74 Bridge | |
| Spans | Mississippi River |
| Lanes | 2×2 |
| Total length | 1,036 meters |
| Main span | 242 meters |
| Bridge deck height | ? |
| Opening | 1935 / 1959 |
| Traffic intensity | 80,000 mvt/day |
| Location | Map |
The I-74 Bridge (formerly: Iowa-Illinois Memorial Bridge ) is an arch bridge in the United States, located on the border of the states of Illinois and Iowa in the Quad Cities. The bridge spans the Mississippi River.
Characteristics
The I-74 Bridge consists of two adjacent large steel arch bridges. The bridge is a total of 1,036 meters long with a main span of 242 meters. The arch is up to 74 meters high above the river. The bridge has 2×4 lanes. Crossing the bridge, Interstate 74 connects Davenport, Iowa to Moline, Illinois. The bridge mainly handles urban traffic because through traffic can go through a ring road around the so-called ‘Quad Cities’. The bridge is toll-free.
History
The original suspension bridge
The original suspension bridges.
The two original suspension bridges were both constructed at separate times. The first bridge opened to traffic in 1935 and was designed by famed Polish-American engineer Ralph Modjeski, who designed many 1930s suspension bridges in the United States. The bridge was originally a toll road. In 1959-1960 a second span opened next to the bridge, so that 2×2 lanes were available. In the 1970s these became part of Interstate 74.
The original suspension bridge had a total length of 1,028 meters and a main span of 226 meters. The pylons were 48 meters high. The bridges both had a lane of 8 meters wide, with two lanes in each direction. The bridges had no emergency lanes.
Replacement with an arch bridge
The original suspension bridges are in poor condition and do not meet current design requirements and are characterized as “functionally obsolete”. Therefore, both suspension bridges will be replaced by two adjacent arch bridges, with a total of 2×4 lanes with emergency lanes, doubling the capacity over the Mississippi River. The project will cost approximately $1 billion and construction formally began on June 26, 2017. The project is being led by the state of Iowa. The arch reaches a maximum height of 74 meters above the water, and is a “through arch bridge”, meaning that the arch extends below the deck to the piers in the water. Construction of the first new span has been awarded for $322 million and opened to traffic on November 13, 2020. On December 1, 2021, the entire project was officially handed over. The opening of the second bridge followed a few days later.
The old bridge was then dismantled between 2022 and 2024. It was decided not to blow up the old bridge, but to disassemble it.
Traffic intensities
Every day 80,000 vehicles cross the bridges.
Irvin S. Cobb Bridge
| Brookport BridgeIrvin S. Cobb Bridge | |
| Spans | Ohio River |
| Lanes | 1×2 |
| Total length | 1.641 meter |
| Main overvoltage | 217 meter |
| Bridge deck height | ? meter |
| Opening | 1929 |
| Traffic intensity | 4,300 mvt/day |
| Location | Map |
The Brookport Bridge, also known as the Irvin S. Cobb Bridge is a United States truss bridge, located on the border of the states of Illinois and Kentucky. The bridge spans the Ohio River near the town of Paducah.
Characteristics
The Irvin S. Cobb Bridge is a ten main span steel truss bridge. The total bridge length is 1,641 meters, the longest span is 217 meters. The bridge deck is only 6 meters wide. US 45 runs across the bridge from Paducah, Kentucky, to Brookport, Illinois. The bridge handles local traffic between the two towns, through traffic using I-24 ‘s Paducah Bridge to the west.
History
The bridge was the first to cross the Ohio River between Illinois and Kentucky and was opened to traffic in 1929. For a long time it was the only bridge over the river in the region, although in 1937 the Cairo Ohio River Bridge opened as the second span between the two states. Through traffic used the Brookport Bridge until I-24’s Paducah Bridge opened in 1973.
Naming
The bridge is named after Irvin S. Cobb (1876-1944), an American writer from Paducah, Kentucky. He was the highest paid writer of opinion pieces in American newspapers. He lived in New York City from 1904.
Traffic intensities
Every day 4,300 vehicles use the bridge. The bridge is also not designed for a lot of traffic, because of the narrow roadway.
