Washington Bridge (Washington, Missouri)

Washington Bridge from the southwest bank

The Washington Bridge is a cantilever truss bridge over the Missouri River at Washington, Missouri over which Route 47 passes between Franklin County, Missouri and Warren County, Missouri. It has also been known as the Route 47 Missouri River Bridge.[1]

The bridge was built in 1934. Its main span is 474.6 feet (144.7 m) and it has a total length of 2,561.3 feet (780.7 m) and a deck width of 22 feet (6.7 m). Its vertical clearance is 14.6 feet (4.5 m). The bridge carries one lane of automobile traffic in each direction.

2007 inspection

The Missouri Department of Transportation shut down the bridge on at 7:30 am on August 11, 2007, claiming to have discovered problems during regularly scheduled inspections.[2] As the bridge is similar to the I-35W Mississippi River bridge which collapsed in Minnesota, locals have speculated that the inspection and closure were related to this incident. The nearest open crossing over the Missouri river is approximately sixty miles (100 km) from the closed bridge. The bridge was reopened at 9:00 pm, but was scheduled for closure again at 7:30 am on Sunday, August 12, 2007. The bridge was scheduled to be reopened again for good at 9:00 pm that day.[3]

As of the summer of 2009 the bridge was open and operating normally.

The bridge is scheduled to be replaced by a new bridge with construction of the new bridge beginning in 2016. The old bridge will remain open during construction of the new span, located just west of the current bridge.

See also

References

Coordinates: 38°33′28″N 90°59′53″W / 38.5579°N 90.9981°W / 38.5579; -90.9981

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