The Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) is sponsoring in situ bridge test demonstrations. This is a great opportunity for exhibitors to showcase their products to conference attendees.
The Stan Musial Veterans Memorial Bridge is a bridge across the Mississippi River between St. Clair County, Illinois, and the city of St. Louis, Missouri. Built between April 19, 2010, and July 2013, the bridge opened on February 9, 2014. The main span of the bridge is 1,500 feet (460 m) in length, part of a total span of 2,803 feet. It is 86 feet (26 m) wide. Cables stretch from the bridge deck to the tops of two A-shaped towers, which reach 435 feet (133 m) above I-70. The new bridge’s main span is supported by 1,000 miles (1,600 km) of 0.6-inch-diameter (15 mm) stay-cable strand, enough for nearly two round trips from St. Louis to Chicago. Nearly 15,000 tons of structural steel are used, along with 8,600 tons of reinforcing steel. Some 90,600 cubic yards of concrete are in the foundation, deck slab, and towers. At its completion, the bridge was the third-longest cable-stayed bridge in the United States. The cost of the original design of the bridge and surrounding area was estimated at nearly $1.7 billion. After both state governments decided that they could not bear that cost, they called for a new design; this proposed a smaller size and was submitted in 2007 with an estimated cost of $667 million. Of the total, $264 million will go to move I-70 in Illinois, $57 million to move I-70 in Missouri, and $346 million to build the bridge. The Illinois state government plans to spend $313 million; Missouri, $115 million. A federal grant will cover the other $239 million. The final cost was $695 million. the bridge was officially named the Stan Musial Veterans Memorial Bridge, with the signature of President Barack Obama on July 12, 2013.