Grand Glaize Bridge

The Grand Glaize Bridge are two girder bridges on U.S. Route 54 over the Grand Glaize Arm of the Lake of the Ozarks between Osage Beach, Missouri and Laguna Beach, Missouri in Camden County, Missouri.

The bridge on official maps is called the Grandglaize (one word) as is the body of water it crosses to differentiate it from an entirely different Grand Glaize Creek that is a tributary to the Meramec River in St. Louis County, Missouri. However in widespread usage it is referred to as two words.

The original two-lane Grand Glaize Bridge was built in 1931 during the construction of Bagnell Dam and Lake of the Ozarks. It was a Warren truss or deck truss structure with the trusses built under the deck so traffic could see the lake. Its unusual design prompted it to be called the "upside down bridge." Other bridges built across the lake at the time including the Hurricane Deck Bridge over the Osage Arm and the Niangua Bridge over the Niangua Arm were also deck truss structures.

The new parallel girder bridge carrying east bound traffic was completed in 1984. A new eastbound girder bridge was built in 1995 and the original bridge was torn down. The Niangua Bridge has also been torn down leaving the Hurricane Deck Bridge as the only remaining deck truss bridge.

References

[http://specialreport.com/tag/grand-glaize-bridge/ Grand Glaize Bridge]
* [http://bridgehunter.com/mo/camden/grand-glaize/ Bridgehunter profile]