The Martin Luther King Bridge in St. Louis is slated to reopen the week of Dec. 21 after being closed in July for repairs, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and other media outlets.
The King bridge had been tentatively set to close from July 6 through Nov. 24. But that timeline was contingent on all westbound lanes of the Poplar Street Bridge being reopened, which was delayed by rainy weather. […]
The $15.9 million construction project on the bridge includes removing its deck, replacing the middle truss span, making structural steel repairs and painting.
The King Bridge, also known as the Veterans Bridge, served as Route 66 from 1957 to 1961. It was constructed as a toll bridge in 1951.
The St. Louis region contains several historic bridges with Route 66 connections, including the Old Chain of Rocks Bridge (built in 1929; now a cycling and pedestrian bridge), the McKinley Bridge (built in 1910) and the MacArthur Bridge (built in 1917; closed to traffic but still used by railroads).
The most historic bridge of them all, the Eads Bridge, was built in 1874 but never was Route 66.
(Image of the Martin Luther King Bridge by cmh2315fl via Flickr)