On Saturday, Route 66 fans and preservationists were invited to the Route 66 State Park office near Eureka, Missouri, for a photo shoot at the Meramac River Route 66 Bridge for the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s “This Place Matters” campaign.
Here is the result:
The photo also is being used in the GoFundMe page for the bridge. Various preservation groups in the St. Louis area are hoping to raise enough money by the end of the year so the bridge can be saved and eventually converted into a cycling and pedestrian trail into the park. If $650,000 isn’t raised by then, the bridge will be demolished next year.
The Meramec River Bridge was built at Times Beach, Missouri, in 1932. Times Beach was evacuated in the 1980s because of dioxin contamination. The toxi soil was incinerated, and Route 66 State Park then was founded, with the office at the site of the old Steiny’s Inn restaurant on Route 66.
The Missouri Department of Transportation closed the Meramec River Bridge in 2009 after an annual inspection showed it could no longer support traffic. Shortly after that, MoDOT removed the deck to keep bridge’s superstructure from decaying further.
(Image courtesy of Ruth Keenoy)