Granite City, IL & St. Louis, MO
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| Route 66 Selfie |
Old Chain of Rocks Bridge
Today Donna and I drove across the Mississippi to Illinois and then walked back to Missouri on
The Old Chain of Rocks Bridge. This bridge crosses the Mississippi just north of St. Louis and gets its name from the multiple rock ledges just under the surface of the water that made passage dangerous before the Chain of Rocks Canal was created. Now barges bypass these shallow waters using the canal.
It's a really pretty place with a lot of trees and birds. There is free parking on the Illinois side. We were told there were a lot of car break-ins on the St. Louis side by different people so we decided to park on the Illinois side.
If you go, and you should, make note that there is a one way bridge leading to Chouteau Island. There is a stoplight at either end that lets cars pass. We were a little confused when we first pulled up and when we left we saw people turning around because they thought the light was never going to change. Give it time, it will change.
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| The road to the parking lot is an Historic Route 66 highway and the bridge used extend this section of Route 66 across The Mississippi River. |
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| There are also a few miles of nature trails on Chouteau Island, the island that we are on. |
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| This is one of the two Water Intake Towers (Tower 1 built in 1894 and still in use) that bring water from the Mississippi River into the Water Treatment Plant and makes the water clean enough to brew Budweiser Beer. |
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| There was info about The Mississippi River but now info on when you crossed the state line or about the Water Intake Towers. |
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| Another shot of Tower #1 |
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| The Famous 30 degree bend. This was created so they could firmly plant the pylons of the bridge in solid rock. |
Old Chain of Rocks Bridge was on our St. Louis list for quite a while and we were looking forward to it but it ended up being way better than we expected.
If you missed my previous post, We're Talking Baseball, check it out. We saw The Cardinals stomp The Diamondbacks.
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