This is a surprisingly new steel truss bridge. This river crossing was
originally US-36. When the bridge was completed and US-36 was upgraded
on the Missouri side, the I-72 designation was extended west about 2 miles
into Missouri. It is hoped that I-72 will eventually be constructed across
Missouri to Saint Joseph.
This bridge replaced the previous Mark Twain Memorial Bridge, which was
located just downstream. It was also a big metal monster from the
depression era. Prior to that bridge, traffic used the Wabash Railroad
bridge.
The next seven photos show a typical crossing of the Mark Twain Memorial
Bridge heading east from Missouri into Illinois. The final five photos
are shots taken from various different locations around Hannibal.
The seven photos above are of a typical bridge crossing heading east
from Missouri towards Illinois. These were taken on two different
days. Notice the sky is different in the first and third photos.
Also notice the orange signs in the final crossing photo. Those are
left over from the massive flooding in June of 2008.
The next five photos are taken from various different vantage points
around the city of Hannibal.