Illinois Terminal Railroad

[081552]

A few weeks ago we were in St. Louis driving north/west on I-70 out of town. I kept looking to my right and saw railroad tracks with what looked like catenary supports. Was this the old Illinois Terminal ROW?

[KCSfan]

I take it you were driving on I-70 on the Missouri side of the river and you saw what was left of the Illinois Terminal's approach to the McKinley Bridge. Much of that approach has been demolished but the steel catenary supports remain on the portion that is left. The McKinley bridge was built in 1910 by the Illinois Traction Co and carried IT trains across the Mississippi from Illinois into St Louis until the end of IT passenger service in 1958. The bridge also had four lanes for vehicular  traffic (old US 66) which remained open until 2001 when it's deterioration forced their closure. In 2005 work was started to replace the highway approaches, rehabilitate the main spans and construct a new bike trail. It was reopened to vehicular traffic in 2007.

Mark