The 75-year-old Martin Luther King Memorial Bridge that links St. Louis to East St. Louis, Illinois, may be replaced at a cost of over $600 million due to its deteriorating condition.
The bridge served as Route 66 from 1957 to 1969.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that area transportation officials imposed weight restrictions on the bridge because of its poor condition.
Funding the bridge-replacement project remains the big hurdle. However, the Illinois Department of Transportation has pledged $10 million for engineering. Costs on the new bridge are planned to be split between Missouri and Illinois.
The 4,000-foot span over the Mississippi River was originally called the Veterans Memorial Bridge when it opened in 1951. It was renamed after King in 1968 after the civil rights leader was assassinated that year.
The bridge was closed for about two years starting in 2018 for rehabilitation.
Though it served Route 66 for more than a decade, the MLK Bridge arguably is less prominent than other bridges in the metro area, including the Old Chain of Rocks Bridge and the McKinley Bridge.
Another former Route 66 span, the MacArthur Bridge, has been closed to vehicular traffic for many years.
The most historic bridge of all in that area, the 1874 Eads Bridge, continues to function, though it was never part of Route 66.
(Image of the Martin Luther King Bridge in St. Louis by C Hanchey via Flickr)