Missouri River Bridges

This map accompanied the Kansas City Times article (fair use excerpts) on the opening of the Boonville highway bridge on July 4, 1924.

1924 Missouri River bridges map

The text of the caption:

An example of the strides Missouri is taking in progress and wealth is shown graphically by the construction of bridges across the Missouri River. To build each bridge costs a million dollars or more, but the investments bring added wealth as well as convenience to the public. The new Old Trails bridge, which will be dedicated today at Booneville [sic], is one of the bridges finished in Missouri's new era of advancement. Three other massive structures are under construction on the state highway at Lexington, Waverly and Glasgow. Bridges upstream from Kansas City, railroad and highway bridges at St. Joseph, Atchison and Leavenworth, are not shown on the map, which is confined to Missouri. [In other words, only bridges entirely in Missouri are shown--MR] The first shown on a trip down stream are the old Hannibal railroad bridge, the Armour-Swift-Burlington railroad and vehicle bridge and the Milwaukee railroad bridge. At Sibley is the old Santa Fe railroad bridge. At Lexington, Waverly and Glasgow the new state highway bridges are under construction. The Chicago & Alton has a bridge at Glasgow also. In addition to the new bridge at Boonville, the M-K.-T. [sic] has a railroad bridge there. A highway and street car bridge is at Jefferson City. A highway and interurban bridge is at St. Charles, also the Wabash railroad bridge. Near the Bellefontaine bend is the Burlington railroad bridge.

The Boonville bridge was demolished after a new bridge was built in 1998. The Jefferson City bridge was replaced in 1953.

The "Milwaukee railroad bridge" later became the Chouteau Bridge in Kansas City, retrofitted for highway traffic in 1951 and demolished in December 2001 shortly before the completion of a new highway bridge alongside the old route. Until its demolition the Chouteau Bridge was the oldest highway bridge spanning the Missouri River in the state of Missouri. It was built in 1887.

The St. Charles highway bridge, built in 1905, was closed in 1992 and later demolished. It was supplanted by the Blanchette Memorial Bridge for Interstate 70 south of downtown St. Charles and the Missouri 370 bridge just north of St. Charles.

The Missouri 13 bridge at Lexington was replaced in 2005 by a new bridge east of Lexington. The old Lexington bridge was closed to traffic on June 25, with demolition beginning a couple of months later.

The last two bridges from this project, from west to east, were the US 24/65 bridge at Waverly and the Missouri 240 bridge at Glasgow. In 2003, work began on a replacement bridge at Waverly, completed in 2004. The old Waverly bridge was demolished in 2005. The Glasgow bridge was replaced in 2009.