GUADALUPE MOUNTAINS trip
Oct. 4-11 2014
PART 10
We left off on I-70 in Kansas City, Kan., and in this view, we look over into Kansas City, Mo., at the Broadway Bridge - which carries US 169 across the Missouri River. It opened in 1956 and feeds into the US 169 freeway to the north. Before 1956, auto traffic here used the Second Hannibal Bridge, which still stands as a rail bridge but used to have a roadway on its upper deck.
I-70 enters Kansas City, Mo.
The bridge you see here is likely the 12th Street Trafficway Viaduct - which could be the topic of a Scholaring in its own right. This pioneering double-decker span was completed in 1915. It also highlights the fact that downtown Kansas City is actually built on a bluff - well above the industrial valley. An extensive rehab of the 'duct was performed in the 1960s.
Downtown Kansas City.
I-29/35 here in Kansas City also has US 71. The bridge here is the Christopher S. Bond Bridge, named for the right-wing senator known for supporting the Bush regime's warrantless surveillance program and trying to retroactively change the law to absolve phone companies from being prosecuted for participating in it. Earlier, Bond served as governor even though he didn't meet the residency requirements. The bridge opened in 2010 and replaced the Paseo Bridge. The Missouri legislature thought Bond was so worthy of praise that they also named another bridge after him.
Before we get to the bridge, we exit the Interstate using this SPUI to Front Street.
Front Street at Olive Street. Despite the rail crossing sign, the rail spur here has been abandoned. The sign with the number of tracks under the crossbuck is completely rusted, and is therefore old. Like a lot of things.
From I-435, this is a view of a rail bridge over the Blue River.
On US 24 in Independence, Mo., we go under a rail overpass.
US 24 in Independence had one of the last remaining single-arch McDonald's signs - which predated even the much-ridiculed "Food, folks, and fun" campaign. (Remember that one?)
A ramp from US 24 to Bess Truman Parkway, which runs north to the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library. Harry Truman was another roadly President: His early political career was based on bringing better roads to Jackson County. But Truman's veto of the unconstitutional Taft-Hartley Act was overridden by Congress. (See, Truman had to deal with a Tea Party Congress too.)
Still in Independence, Parker Avenue is straight ahead as US 24 curves to the left.
I-70/US 40 near Bates City, Mo. Yes, the road on the right was once US 40. (Finally got one!)
I-40 near Mayview, Mo. What's the deal with the billboard at left? How can you "return" the Confederate flag to Missouri, considering Missouri never joined the Confederacy in the first place? (Actually, Missouri waited until 2000 to join.)
I-70 still carried US 40 near Higginsville, Mo. The old US 40 is at right.
From I-70 near Emma, Mo., I'm pretty sure this is old US 40.
Approaching the Rocheport Interstate 70 Bridge, built in 1960 to cross the Missouri River.
The Rocheport Interstate 70 Bridge has no shoulders.
I-70 approaching Kingdom City, Mo. I think the frontage on the left was old US 40. Residents were so intent on having US 40 and 54 intersect here that they marched through the county seat of Fulton with banners saying, "54-40 or fight." I tried including another Mister Rogers billboard in this photo, but that didn't work out. Please won't you be my neighbor?
This billboard near Jonesburg, Mo., opposed misnamed "right-to-work" laws. See, some of us take that stuff seriously.
Pretty sure this is the Blanchette Memorial Bridge on I-70 over the Missouri River at St. Charles, Mo. The westbound side opened in 1958 or 1959; eastbound in 1978. The span was essentially rebuilt in 2013.
Last photo of the trip! I think this is the New Chain of Rocks Bridge on I-270 over the Mississippi River on the north side of St. Louis, built in 1966. We bypassed the central city again, because I'd been there plenty in 2014.