The Stan Musial Veterans Memorial Bridge opened for traffic in February 2014 with the goal of easing traffic congestion for drivers traveling across the Mississippi River between Missouri and Illinois. One year later, project engineers say the $346 million bridge has more than met expectations.

“We’re very pleased with the effect the bridge has had so far,” said Jeff Church, project implementation engineer with the Illinois Department of Transportation. “We’re very happy with the traffic patterns, which, after the first year are very close to what we expected.”

Deanna Venker, Missouri Department of Transportation area engineer for the city of St. Louis, said recent traffic counts for the new Mississippi River bridge averaged about 41,000 vehicles daily. The bridge was designed to accommodate daily traffic counts of 50,000 vehicles.

“When we first opened the new Mississippi River bridge, about one to two weeks in, we had a daily traffic count of about 30,000,” she said. “It’s great to see the numbers increasing.”

Having multiple bridges available to traffic has given both MODOT and IDOT the ability to make improvements to the two pre-existing, nearby bridges, the Poplar Street Bridge and the Martin Luther King Jr. Bridge.
Having the ability to complete construction in other areas was a goal in building the new bridge, both Venker and Church said. Construction of the Stan Musial Veterans Memorial Bridge was part of a larger transportation project.
“There are several phases to the river bridge project,” Venker said. “The first was to build the bridge and then come back to the existing structures.”

Construction is currently taking place on the westbound side of the Poplar Street Bridge at a cost of $25 million. According to Venker, improvements include a new driving deck and replacing the ramp from the bridge to Interstate 44 eastbound. The ramp connecting the Poplar Street Bridge to Interstate 55 southbound will be widened to two lanes. Venker said these projects are expected to be completed by mid-summer.

Construction on the eastbound portion of the Poplar will begin in 2016. Projects will include widening one ramp and extending another, connecting the bridge to Interstate 64 eastbound, to be its own lane.
A lane also will be added to the Poplar Street Bridge for an estimated cost of $50 million. “We will do what’s called, ‘sliding the bridge,’” Venker said. “Currently, the Poplar Street Bridge is actually two different structures — they’re separate. We will take one and slide it over, building a new lane in the middle that connects both of the bridges together.”
Workers will replace a portion of the deck on the Martin Luther King Jr. Bridge some time after July 4 at a cost of $15.9 million, but a final schedule is yet to be determined. Church said the schedule will be publicized as construction draws near. He expects the project to result in an approximately two-month closure of the entire bridge.

“We are able to do this rehabilitation work because the Stan Musial Veterans Memorial Bridge provides another option for drivers,” Church said.
“Currently we have one lane closed (on the Poplar Street Bridge), and we do not see the backup people might have expected, and that’s because those cars are moving over” to the new bridge, Venker said.
Recent traffic counts were not available for the two older bridges due to construction. Construction on the Poplar Street Bridge and Martin Luther King Jr. Bridge isn’t expected to overlap, Venker and Church said.

In addition to easing traffic congestion, the new Mississippi River bridge has had a positive impact on the area’s economic development, officials said.

“There has been an increase in interest in the area surrounding the (new) bridge,” said Missy Kelley, COO of Downtown STL Inc. “Buildings that have been vacant for awhile are now getting interest.
“That’s basically what you expect to happen with the construction of this type of bridge. It pulls people right into downtown — they’re driving through, they’re stopping at stoplights, they’re seeing what’s around there, they’re experiencing what the area has to offer.”
Kelley said this exposure makes the area a desirable location for retail establishments, but the opportunities don’t end there.
The accessibility provided by the bridge made the area a good option for the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, Kelley said. The federal agency currently is considering a new location about two miles from the bridge.
One business already benefiting from the bridge is Bissinger’s. The chocolate company purchased a warehouse at 1600 N. Broadway for $4 million in 2013. Bissinger’s moved employees from its St. Louis and Iowa locations into the new headquarters and chocolate factory, which also provided enough square footage for an event space. Bissinger’s CEO Tim Fogerty said the new Mississippi River bridge played a role in making the decision for the new location, for reasons of easy accessibility and visual appeal.
“When we first acquired the building, we walked out onto the roof and were surprised by the view,” Fogerty said. “At that time, the bridge was still under construction, but we had seen designs for what it would look like. We thought, what an incredible view we have up here.”
Fogerty and other Bissinger’s leaders decided the upper levels of the new location, looking out on the river and the bridge, would be an ideal event venue. Prior to the new headquarters, Bissinger’s had the ability to accommodate events of 50 to 100 people at its Maryland Plaza location.
The new event venue, titled the Caramel Room, can accommodate up to 350 people with indoor and outdoor space. Bissinger’s put $11 million into renovations in its new location, which included the 4,000-square-foot rooftop space.
“Bissinger’s made a significant investment in an area that needed it,” said Otis Williams, St. Louis Development Corp. executive director. “We hope that it will attract more development to the area around the new bridge.”