Crossing the Missouri river at St. Louis presents a difficult
decision to the Route 66 rider. The "original" route approximated
Interstate 270 - passing to the north and west of the city. Going
that way takes you over the I-270 bridge - and a LOT of construction
work. Looking south from the bridge you'll glimpse the Chain of Rocks
bridge with it's curious "kink."
The second route takes you further south in Illinois on I-55 to the join
with I-44 and a turn to the west. That route presents the famous St. Louis
arch and an interesting part of the Gateway City to stop over in. You'll
be near Busch Stadium, the Gateway Arch park area and the river boats. In the summer
of 1997 the south and west route was VERY much more reccommended.
But we can't just leave the Chain's "kink" at that. Why the kink? Well,
there are as many legends as people. They range from "Ooops!" on the part
of the engineers to the REAL reason: Building straight across at this point
of the river would present a dangerously narrow passage between piers for river
traffic. So, they built "straight" till they got to the center of the river,
then they "jogged" so that the widest possible space between piers would be
parallel to the current.
Modern materials used in the I-270 bridge mean no such gymnastics were necessary. It leaps the river in a single bound.