This view from the east side of the new bridge shows barricades and sandbags placed at left to prevent cars from going onto an incomplete ramp which leads to a collector roadway.
Workmen applying asphaltic binder coat on westbound lane of the Poplar Street Bridge Wednesday. Lane at left still has only epoxy coating and layer of grit.
A jurisdictional dispute between building laborers and painters has held up work on the eight-lane, 2165-foot-long deck of the problem-plagued Poplar Street Bridge for the last five weeks.
Work resumed on the new Chain of Rocks bridge Monday, after a five-month delay. Work was halted Nov. 22 because of bad weather and alleged unreasonable construction costs. The Ruckman and Hansen Construction Company of Fort Wayne, Ind., has been paying a $250 daily penalty since Nov. 20 for delays in construction.
The railings along the eastbound lanes of the new Chain of Rocks Bridge (Interstate 270), which spans the Mississippi River in North St. Louis County, were due to be completed last November. The bridge can not be used until the work is finished, forcing motorists to use the narrow, two-lane bridge south of the new span.
These piers are awaiting the steel decking which will be among the approaches to the Poplar Street bridge, now under construction across the Mississippi River between the Eads and MacArthur Bridges.
The new Chain of Rocks bridge may be opened to traffic in "installments" with the two westbound lanes opened before the end of the year. This picture shows the concerete deck portion of the bridge with the westbound lanes nearing completion.
Giant derrick barge at left, parked on St. Louis riverfront, will be used by the Bethlehem Steel Company in erecting big steel girder sections for the Poplar Street bridge in a job expected to begin next week.
Recently completed improvement of the Cypress Road Bridge, located approximately 1200 feet north of St. Charles Rock Road on Cypress Road in Bridgeton, are shown above.
The bridge, which was the scene of many traffic accidents in the past, was reconstructed out of Street Department funds set aside for the purpose, according to James Dowdy, city engineer.
Work on Poplar street Bridge continues as cranes mounted on barges are used in construction of a pier in midstream. The third pier from the Missouri side, it will be one of two in the river itself. The view here looks toward St. Louis from the Illinois bank.
Nearing completion is a new bridge over Deer Creek near Litzinger and McKnight roads, part of a 1955 County bond issue project to extend Rock Hill road north to Litzinger in a straight line. The new roadway is parallel to the existing Rock Hill road and is located a few hundred feet to the east.
Conducting Poplar Street Bridge hearing is Col. Alfred J. D'Arezzo, head of the Army Engineer District here. Flanking him are John Gurley (left), chief maintenance branch engineer, and Lowell C. Oheim, chief of the construction operations division.
