Found an old color photograph of the old Chouteau Bridge. Right after moving here in the late 90's, I drove over this once and a week later they closed it for "emergency" repairs. I later found out that these "emergency" repairs happened quite often and were really more routine maintenance. That same week I saw an interview showing how the steel I-beams were rusting through and decided I would never again tempt God by crossing this bridge.
The old Chouteau Bridge was originally built for train traffic and converted over for cars. Bridgehunter.com has a collection of pictures including a couple of pictures when they built it and when it had trains only.
The old bridge was imploded and the steel was salvaged from the river. Implosionworld.com has some information on the methods of explosive demolition along with some videos of implosions around the world including Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia and Atlanta's Fulton County Stadium.
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