Poplar Street Bridge

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The Poplar Street Bridge, offically the Bernard F. Dickman Bridge, is a 647 foot (197m) long deck girder bridge across the Mississippi River between St. Louis, Missouri and East St. Louis, Illinois. The bridge arrives on the Missouri shore line just south of the Gateway Arch.

The bridge carries three interstates and a federal highway over the river. It is crossed by approximately 120,000 vehicles daily, making it possibly the most heavily used bridge on the river. Some of that load is intended to be diverted to the New Mississippi River Bridge when and if it is constructed.

Interstate 55, Interstate 64, Interstate 70, and U.S. Highway 40 cross the Mississippi on the Poplar Street bridge, and the official eastern endpoint of Interstate 44 is at the state line on the bridge. (Missouri marks the terminus of I-44 at I-55, but Illinois marks I-44 on their side of the bridge). U.S. Highway 66 was also multiplexed over this bridge until 1979, and U.S. Highway 50 was routed over it before the interstates were constructed.

The Poplar Street Bridge is always referred to as such in common usage, the majority of St. Louisans being unaware of its official name.