TRAA’s MacArthur Bridge a pedestrian, bicycle trail possibility?

[Lyon_Wonder]

The other day I read a couple articles suggesting the MacArthur Bridge as a possible route for a proposed pedestrian/bicycle path across the Mississippi River to St. Louis.  First a little history of this bridge.  The MacArthur used to be a duel use span for both railroad and automobile traffic.  Railroad traffic used, and continues to use, the bottom rail deck, while automobile traffic crossed the bridge on an upper road deck.  The MacArthur carried auto traffic from the bridge’s opening date in 1917 until the auto deck was abandoned in 1981.  The bridge was originally owned by the city of St. Louis from when it opened until 1989, when the city swapped the MacArthur to the Terminal Railroad Association in exchange for the Eads Bridge.  Since them the upper auto deck has been partially dismantled to make it more difficult for trespassers to get onto the bridge, and the MacArthur’s eastern highway-deck approach was removed sometime around 2007-08.  The MacArthur continues to carry freight and passenger rail traffic and is still owned by the TRRA.

Here's the links to the 2 articles I'm taking about.  As I said, there's a proposal for a pedestrian/bicycle trail across the Mississippi into downtown St. Louis.  Of course the main problem is how they're going to get the trail across the river.

http://rogerkramercycling.org/blog/?p=1489

http://stlelsewhere.blogspot.com/2010/08/som-bridge-han-river-park-paths.html

IMO, the MacArthur would need rehab work to make it into a pedestrian bridge since the eastern approach and some of the former upper vehicle deck were removed. A brand new eastern approach to the MacArthur’s upper deck would have to be built, and the remainder of the former vehicle deck would likely need rehabbing or even replacement too.

Here's a diagram that includes a new eastern approach span.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_xgLyP-rB8F8/THDv-bPn9HI/AAAAAAAACyI/1cQ-ArNCDAk/s1600/mbridgepath.jpg

There's also an alternate proposal to build a completely new pedestrian span right next to the Poplar St Bridge. I guess they'll have to weigh the cost of building a completely new pedestrian bridge against that of reusing/rebuilding the MacArthur's upper level for pedestrian use, and whether the TRRA would cooperate in rehabbing the bridge.

 

[mudchicken]

Massive waste of money.

You already have the hardly used (in a pedestrian sense) Eads (old TRRA & PRR (Vandalia RR, now toy train, 1.0 miles north)  and McKinley (old IT, 3.5 miles north)...The money, if there is any, could be much better spent rather than wasted on a very narrow part of the population)

[cacole]

I'm certainly not going to hold my breath expecting this to happen any time soon. The only way they could justify the expense of this would be to totally ban all automobile traffic into downtown Saint Louis and turn it into a pedestrian only area, and that's not likely to happen.

 

[Victrola1]

"Oh, by the way,
He said he saw a girl that looked a lot like you up on Choctaw Ridge
And she and Billy Joe was throwing somethin' off the Tallahatchie Bridge."

http://www.filibustercartoons.com/billyjoe.htm

Who would be responsible for policing pedestrians and bicyclists on the TRAA's MacArthur Bridge?