Eads Bridge
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Eads_Bridge_construction.jpg
Eads Bridge is a combined road and railway bridge over the Mississippi River at St. Louis, connecting St. Louis and East St. Louis, Illinois.
The bridge is named for its designer and builder, Captain James B. Eads. When completed in 1874, Eads Bridge was the longest bridge in the world, with an overall length of 6,442 feet (1,964 m). The ribbed steel arch spans were considered daring, as was the use of steel as a primary structural material. The steel came from Andrew Carnegie on behalf of the Keystone Steel Company, the first such use of steel in a major bridge project and the beginning of Carnegie's extremely successful career in steel.
The Eads Bridge was also the first bridge to be built using cantilever support methods exclusively, and one of the first to make use of pneumatic caissons. The Eads Bridge caissons, still among the deepest ever sunk, were responsible for one of the first major outbreaks of "caisson disease" (also known as "the bends"), and thirteen workers died.
The Eads Bridge is still in use, and stands on the St. Louis riverfront between Laclede's Landing on the north and the grounds of the Gateway Arch to the south.
See Also
Eads_Bridge_1875.jpg
External links
- National Historic Landmark Designation - Statement of Significance (http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=716&ResourceType=Structure)
- Eads Bridge (http://www.asce.org/history/brdg_eads.html) - the History and Heritage of Civil Engineering webpage (American Society of Civil Engineers)