Great River Bridge

Infobox_Bridge
bridge_name= Great River Bridge


caption=
official_name=
also_known_as=
carries= 4 lanes of US 34
crosses= Mississippi River
locale= Burlington, Iowa and Gulf Port, Illinois
maint= Iowa Department of Transportation
id=
design= Cable-stayed bridge
mainspan= convert|660|ft|m|0
length= convert|1245|ft|m|0
width= convert|27|ft|m|0
clearance=
below= convert|60|ft|m|0
traffic=
open= October 4 1993
closed=
toll=
map_cue=
map_

map_text=
map_width=
coordinates= coord|40|48|43|N|91|05|44|W|region:US_type:landmark

The Great River Bridge is an asymmetrical, one-tower cable-stayed bridge over the Mississippi River. It carries U.S. Highway 34 from Burlington, Iowa to the town of Gulf Port, Illinois.

Construction began in 1989, but work on the main tower did not begin until April 1990. The main tower is convert|370|ft|m|0 in height from the top of the tower to the riverbed. During the Great Flood of 1993, construction continued despite record crests on the Mississippi below. The final cost of the bridge was $49 million, about 16 percent over budget.

The Great River Bridge replaced the MacArthur Bridge, an aging two-lane toll steel bridge built in 1917. The new bridge is five lanes wide (two westbound, three eastbound) and provides a safer crossing across the Mississippi River than the old bridge.

Events

In the early morning of May 1 2008, five barges broke loose of their moorings, with two of those striking the eastern most pylon of the bridge on the Henderson County, Illinois side of the river. The bridge was closed while it could be inspected by the Iowa Department of Transportation for damage and repairs. A third barge continued downstream, striking the BNSF Railroad owned Burlington Rail Bridge. The bridge was reopened the following day.

On June 17 2008, the bridge was closed due to flooding. [ [http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/weather/06/17/midwest.flooding/index.html Flood shuts down Mississippi River bridge (CNN.com)] ]

ee also

*List of crossings of the Upper Mississippi River

References

*Fields, Ron. "Bridge spans a decade." "The Hawk Eye Newspaper", [http://www.edkraemer.com/news/news_detail.asp?id=115 http://www.edkraemer.com/news/news_detail.asp?id=115] via [http://www.edkraemer.com/index.asp Edward Kraemer & Sons, Inc.] August 22, 2004. Retrieved January 14, 2006.

*The Hawk Eye. "Barge strikes close U.S. 34, BNSF bridges" "The Hawk Eye", [http://www.thehawkeye.com/Story/Barge-web-050108] , Thursday, May 1, 2008

External links

* [http://www.pubs.asce.org/WWWdisplay.cgi?9400647 Civil Engineering Database]

Crossings navbox
structure = Bridges
place = Mississippi River
bridge = Great River Bridge
bridge signs =
upstream = Keithsburg Rail Bridge
upstream signs =
downstream = Burlington Rail Bridge
downstream signs =