The Martin Luther King Bridge that connects East St. Louis, Illinois, to St. Louis is expected to close starting Monday for months because of repairs, reported the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
The bridge, built as a toll bridge in 1951, needs to have its decks rebuilt. The King Bridge, also known as the Veterans Bridge, served as Route 66 from 1957 to 1961. The bridge is tentatively scheduled to reopen by Thanksgiving.
Most Route 66 travelers use the McKinley Bridge or the Interstate 270 bridge to cross into Missouri, so the closure shouldn’t cause many problems.
However, the bridge still carries about 20,000 vehicles a day, and a few hardcore Route 66ers do check it out. So it might be wise to keep that and possible traffic delays on other bridges in mind.
If you’re exploring Route 66 in that area, I would recommend crossing into St. Louis using the Eads Bridge instead. It never was Route 66, but many travelers don’t often get the opportunity to travel on a 140-year-old bridge that remains an engineering marvel.
(Image of the Martin Luther King Bridge by cmh2315fl via Flickr)