Cairo Mississippi River Bridge

This bridge needs to be demolished

Will I be able to cross here on Tuesday June 24th? What about possible flooding of approaches on both sides?

I was born in Charleston Missouri, but have lived in Ohio since 1957. I was told as a child that my father worked on this bridge. I have certainly enjoy this information and it brings back many childhood memories. Thanks to all who are responsible for this historical information.

Sherry Selmon

New Matamoras, Ohio

I can at this time hear a barge going down the river. Maybe it will go as far as Cario, at least I like to imagine when I hear them go by. I live right on the Ohio River.

In the early 70s when I had just started driving semis I used to go across that bridge many nights in the fog. it was very tricky getting across when you met another semi going the other way. many trucks had their mirrors torn off on that bridge because they where to far over one way or another. I was lucky I guess I never lost a mirror.

man talk about old memories.

We used cross this bridge a couple of times a year traveling from Dyersburg, TN to Peoria, IL to visit family in the 70's. I always hated crossing this bridge because it was narrow, high, and had a curve at the end...as a kid I thought something must be wrong if they had to put a curve in the bridge. On the other hand, there was a little diner in Cairo where where my dad would stop and get me a grilled cheese and a piece of coconut pie!

As a newly married couple in oct. 1975, we were traveling from lackland air force base in antonio, texas north,

thru arkansas and missouri on our way to rantoul, illinois. my airman husband was going to attend school for a few

months at chanute air force base in rantoul. we heard that a few years later that base was eventually closed along

with several others, due to government cutbacks. well anyway our trip was going along rather nicely and

practically without incident. neither one of us had ever been north of texas or louisiana. we were young (17 and

19), had never been away from our families for any length of time. so we took off in our old 1969 chevy impala my

parents had given us as a wedding gift and set out on our first real adventure in our new married lives together. I

remember thinking how excited and full of enthusiam we were. we were just about thru missouri when suddenly we came

upon this long and narrow and dangerous looking bridge that if i remember right, crossed the mississippi and ohio

rivers. i looked at my new husband and said "do we really have to cross this thing? there can't be enough room for

two vehicles at the same time on it! isn't there another way we can take." looking again at our map, it confirmed

our worse fears. this was it, the only way to go. it looked like a new interstate highway was just under

construction and not fully completed to where we were heading. I learned some years later that that interstate

highway was eventually completed and a new four lane bridge was built across the river. here we are getting onto

the bridge, (approaching from its south end on a big curve if i remember correctly) praying for no oncoming

traffic. i think i must have closed my eyes because i was too scared to look down or ahead and we were about half

way over the bridge when i heard my husband say "oh no!" an 18 wheeler was approaching us in the opposite lane and

there was nowhere to go but straight ahead. i prayed and cried some more.i swear we must have touched each other in

passing. and then we met up with a couple of cars further down the bridge. it was a total nightmare. and half way

up there i decided to look down. my goodness we seemed so high up and there was nothing but water all around us.

first of all i have a fear of heights as well as water. so i was totally miserable. well we did eventually make it

over to the other side and then when you think it can't get any worse, we were faced with the steep levees and with

no shoulders.i didn't want look down there either for fear of falling or something. needless to say it was a

blessing when we entered cairo and left the horrid bridge with its fast moving rivers behind us. it was just a

really bad experience. two months later we took that same bridge again heading back down south to louisiana for the

christmas holidays. the trip going home wasn't so bad. but heading back up north was a different story. it had

snowed and the bridge was iced. oh gosh that bridge was so slick and it seemed like we were moving in slow motion.

we were barely trudging along. i thought we'd never get to the other side. and then there was the slick narrow road

along the levee going into cairo. that was certainly another memorable trip! what i would like to know is which

bridge this was. could this be the cairo mississippi river bridge? i think i read on here that there are two

bridges in that area. like i said i believe this bridge crossed both the mississippi and ohio rivers. i can't

remember the name or the highway. and does this bridge still exist? surely its been replaced by now. after all that

was 33 years ago and it seemed practially obsolete and so dangerous back then. have any major traffic accidents or

fatalities ever occurred on it? and also does cairo still exist? i know it was just a little town and i remember

little about it except it looked rather historical looking. i thought i would always have loved to go back up that

way for old times sakes, but i sure would avoid that bridge at all cost. HA!

I've traveled this bridge a number of times visiting relatives in Atlanta; always a highlight of the trip. One looks out on the vast expanse of water downriver, and thinks of all the history and commerce this place has seen over the centuries. The New Madrid earthquakes (hurry up, get off the bridge). General Grant in the observation tower at Ft Defiance and all that.

Driving the bridge itself is a thrill for speed freaks in small cars and a terror for lumbering RV's and oncoming semis - no two trips the same, but all unforgettable.

One wonders of the future, particularly given the increasing risk of a big earthquake. It's very likely the bridge will come down in a magnitude 7 or higher, and although there has been much talk of building a new bridge below the confluence, no solid action has been taken, a cause for concern as the local commerce and culture of Missouri, Illinois and Kentucky greatly depends on the 2 Cairo bridges.

I just posted a comment about this bridge, how it scared me when I was growing up. I still travel a lot between MO and KY but I usually go through Cairo and take the Cairo-I-57 bridge into MO.

As a kid growing up in the late 40's that bridge scared me to death! It seemed so far down to the water and when we would get to the toll booth I was afraid they wouldn't let us across. Then in the late 50's riding on the school bus to a football game in Cairo, the bus would sometimes hit the side of the bridge and sparks would fly! Of course we would all scream.

When a child and we went over the bridge I got down in the floorboard I was so worried. It was a toll bridge for a long while and the teeners would go cross the pond to Cairo as it had quite a few watering holes, sometimes in an ambulance with the siren on so as not to pay the toll. It was where we all went to the hospital. I had a flat on this bridge and yes it shakes but it has to or it would fall. Quite nice memories of the old bridge which the new one does not have.

born in Missouri.We was always on the levee going to illinois or kentucky.the levee was bad enough before Missouri built new bridge. Levee always backed up to Wyatt because bridge couldn't handle the traffic and if there was a wreck you wasn't going no where.Was in elementary school and went on field trip to Cairo to museum and rode in floor board while crossing bridge both ways.Was told at 1 time it had walks on bridge so people could walk across ,but was taking out to widen and it is still not wide enough. all i can say take the ferry.

I think this is a pretty bridge and would like to walk on it! bridges fascinate me to no end and I am NOT scared to walk on ANY bridge.My local bridge bounces when semi trucks and buses cross,but ALL steel bridges do this.I checked with MN DOT and it is simply flexing.Ours flexes so hard,it has knocked me on my butt,I continue to walk on it as I am used to it and just hold the rail to keep from falling.It is when they DON'T flex you SHOULD worry,like 35w quit doing before it collapsed.Even wittnessing it's demise didn't really scare me.I feel saddened by it and sad for those poor people!! But it won't kill my fascination for bridges!!My niece LOVES it when we bounce and bugs me for a stroll to "our bridge" by the way-I posted it here! It is under-kettle river bridge #5718.A nice pratt deck truss in a1 condition!!

This one needs to be torn down and replaced ASAP! What a huge POS, much like the whole city of Cairo

try crossing it in a semi while meetting another semi

Born and raised in SE Missouri and living in Charleston, I can't count how many times I have gone over that bridge. My great grandfather help build the bridge and told me there was a guy buried in the concrete (don't know if its true or not).

Day or night, its a scary bridge, but it's the bridge I grew up with and have great memories of trips going over it. Whether to go shopping at Paducah or coming home from Georgia. The day my son was born, his grandfather was caught on the Kentucky side because of bridge construction on the Ohio Bridge and missed his birth. Try driving a combine over the bridge!! Thats not fun either. All traffic must stop. Actually, its not the bridges that bother me or that terrible curve coming off of the Ohio Bridge into Kenucky, but on the Missouri side of HWY 60 on the levy road. I don't travel that at night anymore. I think someone else said, there aren't any lights at night on those bridges and yes, its very dark driving over them.

When I was about 14 years old I lived at Wyatt, Mo. This was in 1947. My friend Irvin Palmer and I used to ride our bikes from Wyatt, Mo. to Cairo, Ill. It was a fun trip and we weren't a bit nervous about crossing the bridge. Sometimes when the big trucks were on the bridge at the same time, it did shake a little, but we were not concerned. The bridge has always brought pleasant memories to me.

I guess that comment was a little boring, so I'll expand. The trucking company my father drives for has a yearly "kids week" where sons/daughters/grandsons/ect. get to go for a ride with whoever it is they're related to. Well this was my first year, and my dad's destination at the time was Sikeston, Missouri from Atlanta, Georgia. After crossing the Ohio river span, i thought we were done with narrow bridges, oh was i wrong. We come around the sharp curve, and there it was. I didnt want to cross. But i had no choice, and i wasnt going to throw a fit. All in all its not a bad ride across, unless theres another truck comming from the opposite direction...which there was. A lot of mirror clicking happens on that bridge...lol

Oh man. I went over this bridge in a big truck back in July of 2002..i was ten. And ill tell you this. I was never more scared of crossing a bridge in my life!

There used to be three bridges in this part of the country that scared the living bejeezus out of me. One, the old James Bethel Gresham Bridge at Calhoun, KY over the Green River, is no more, having been replaced by a more modern span. The others are the Cairo Mississippi River and the Cairo Ohio River bridges. Of course, daredevil father that I am, I cross them both on our trips to Oklahoma to visit family, just so my four kids can see what real bridges USED to be like. And we travel Highway 60 across the Show-Me State because Interstate life is just too boring!

Daylight crossings of the bridges are exciting, but the real thrill is to cross them at night. The only lights are from the barges on the river below, and possibly a few other places, but I am not daredevil enough to take my eyes off of the bridge!

I know there's talk of a new bridge somewhere down the line, but I sure hope they don't get rid of these two. They truly are treasures and I get a little misty to see them every time approach coming home, because I know we're almost home.

I just crossed this bridge April 25th of 2007 and had never had a fear of bridges until this one. We were heading into Kentucky this day and got about 1/3 of the way over this bridge when all of the sudden we had to stop for construction. The bridge was down to only 1 very narrow lane and we had to wait our turn. After stopping I began to feel the bridge begin to shutter and shake. Mind you I have never felt a fear over the hundreds of bridges I have traveled over but this one got me. As the on-coming travel started to pass me the shaking became worse as if the bridge may collapse. Obvioulsly it never did but nonetheless my nerves were shot. Shortly after that I wondered if I would always have a fear of bridges and that question was answered 10-15 miles down the road as I crossed the Ohio River into Kentucky. Luckily I did fine and have crossed 3 others since this expierence. On my return trip I took the I 57 bridge which was just fine.

I remember vividly crossing this bridge in 1975 in an MCI MC-7 motor coach on the final leg of a trip from Tucson, AZ to Paducah, KY, during a snow storm with the bridge covered in ice. Like most 1920s spans, the lanes are narrow and unforgiving, and the surface was slippery on the main span, as it was on that nasty "suicide curve" on the southern approach. I remember losing traction on the drive wheels trying to get up the approach ramp, and the back end of the bus fishtailing slightly, requiring a careful touch on the throttle. Once on top, I passed a truck mid-span and we clicked mirrors. It was a nerve wracking experience, to be certain. To look at this span in these pictures shows a pretty typical American Bridge product of the era, with field "built-up" lattice beams and the like, and it's a monument to 20th century American engineering. It also seems quite benign in the sunny weather. However, on that day in '75 with all that ice, I thought I was a goner! Of all my Mississippi River crossings, this bridge stands above all as the most memorable for me.

Well, I took my trip from California to Wisconsin in September, making sure my route included crossing at Cairo.

Not to sound like a cheap detective novel, but it was a dark and rainy afternoon. A ghostly skeleton looming above the trees in the distance recalled an unsettling memory. But I figured that the heavy semis in the line ahead of me would plunge into the river before I did. If I hung back in traffic a ways, maybe I could stop just at the brink of disaster...

Fifty years fills in a lot gaps in a child's imagination. The bridge was an absolute pleasure to cross. And at 25 mph, I could even enjoy taking a glance up and down the river. The bridge restoration is beautiful. A travel destination in its own right.

I was bicycling from Florida to points west and crossed this bridge in traffic when the two rivers were in flood, and I couldn't get into Cairo after crossing the Ohio from Kentucky. The other drivers did not appreciate me being out there in front of them on this narrow bridge with my loaded bike, but I made quick work of it even going into the wind. The heavy trucks motivated me!

I live about 18 miles from this bridge. It is a great structure. When I was a small boy we had a neighbor named Herman Puyear that worked on this bridge when it was built. He was working on the very top catching hot rivets to be hammered into the metal when he fell off and missed a barge by only a few feet. The people on the barge saw him fall and fished him from the river. Lucky, he was rolled into a ball when hitting the water and they say that is what saved him. He stuttered when he talked and I always had him tell me about falling. he would say I ssseen wwater and ssseen sssky. I loved to hear him tell about it. he was a very great guy. Richard L. Bell

LOL another person from sw michigan here by birth not choice lol i was also raised in the ne ar and se mo area and i remember in the mid 80's going across this bridge and the I57 bridge it was interesting to cross this one more than the other one i would always stay up till we got to the bridge and man it seemed like it took forever and day to get there but once we got there it would excite me cause i knew then that it wasnt far to paragould, ar area to where we was going.

I just ran across this site, and it sure brought back memories. In the mid-50's when I was just 5-8 years old, my mother used to drive this bridge to visit relatives in SEMO. We lived in Michigan at the time, and always seemed to go south in the spring just at flood season. Crossing this bridge used to terrify me. My mother was a real speed demon, and she would drive our 1950 Ford or later her 1955 Rambler across this thing at 65 mph. I used to crouch down in the seat or on the floor knowing that we were either to go right off the side of the bridge or be hit head on by one of the on-coming trucks.

I'm planning a trip next month and will probably drive the bridge again. We'll see if 50 years has erased the terror!

In 1985 my wife and I traveled from Michigan to Texas to visit our daughter. It was the middle of February and we had stayed overnight in southern IL. Getting up early we found that it had snowed several inches and was still snowing. We left following I-57. It was a Sunday morning and there wasn't any traffic at all. It was snowing so hard we couldn't see the road and all I wanted to do was get off that expressway. We came to the Cairo exit and I took it. Followed the road through the town and soon saw the bridge in front of us. Hadn't seen another car the whole time. Continued onto the bridge and thought, "This is a very narrow, old bridge". The glimpses I got of the river were spectacular but too focused on driving to see much. Got us to the other side and followed the levees in MO until we found our way to the expressway again. So that was our visit to Cairo and the historic Cairo Mississippi River Bridge.

When I was a little kid in the 60s, my parents would travel from Atlanta, TX to Sumner, IL. We would leave after my parents left work. We would reach this bridge late at night. I remember the excitement but the gut wrenching fear was almost overwhelming. The bridge was so massive and high in the air. I always knew that a section of the bridge would be missing and we would fall in. A childs imagination. I am planning a trip in June 2006 with my mother, wife and 15 year old son. I cannot wait to relive this childhood memory.

I have sent a message to the webmaster regarding my searching for this bridge. My husband has in his possession a pocket knife which shows this bridge in fantastic detail on the front of it and with the wording ESTABLISHED 1856 STUPP BROS. BRIDGE AND IRON CO. on the reverse side. It is in fantastic condition and we were interesting in finding the value or whatever and locating the bridge.

He has relatives in Missouri and thus that is where I started my search and I was amazed at the number of bridges in Missouri alone. What an interesting site. Should you know or have information on the manufacturing of this knife we would greatly appreciate it......sincerely, Marion O'Neill