Tour information

Did You Know

The cable stayed portion of the bridge will be just over four football fields in length.
With a main span of 1,500 feet, this bridge will be the third longest cable-stayed bridge in the U.S.
The two longest cable-stayed bridges in the U.S. are the John J. Audubon in Louisiana, which will be finished in 2011, and the Arthur Ravenel in South Carolina.
The New Mississippi River Bridge will be 400 feet tall, just two-thirds the height of the Arch.
The cable-stayed portion of the bridge will require 8 Million pounds of reinforcing steel – equivalent to the weight of 363 school buses.
The Mississippi River Bridge will require 14.8 million pounds of girders – equivalent to the weight of 925 elephants.
The total project will cost $640 million – equivalent to one dollar bills laid end to end circling the equator two and a half times.
Concrete does not dry. It cures. Curing is the hardening process that occurs because of the chemical reaction between cement and water.

Tour information

People who are interested in seeing construction on the new Mississippi River Bridge between St. Clair County, Illinois, and St. Louis have several options:

The monthly public tour (All public tours for 2012 have been filled. See below for signing up for space available tours.)
The virtual tour
The Great Rivers Greenway pumphouse which can be used as a viewing platform (map here)

For people interested in the public tours, there are two tours scheduled on the last Friday of each month, one at 12:30 p.m. and one at 2 p.m. Tours may be canceled due to ongoing construction or to river levels. Each tour is scheduled to last no more than an hour and a half.

Since this is a construction zone, we have to limit the age of attendees to 12 and higher. Since we will require attendees to sign a release, attendees between the age of 12 and 18 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian. A copy of the release is here. If you have a reservation, you are encouraged to bring a signed copy of the release with you to speed up the tour process.

Having a reservation is no guarantee of having a tour, if we need to cancel due to construction or river levels. The determination to cancel a tour will be made as early as possible. If you leave a phone number or e-mail address with us, we will let you know if the tour you have a reservation for has been cancelled.

Please be prepared to walk about a mile as part of this tour. Because you will be in a construction zone, we require all tour attendees to wear long pants and comfortable, closed toe shoes (we recommend no high heels). We will provide hard hats and, if necessary, safety glasses.

Remember, this is a construction zone. Although we will make every effort to ensure your protection, there may be dust, gravel, loud noises, uneven terrain, moving vehicles or equipment, and sparks near you as you tour the site and visit us.

Reservations for the tours are required. All 2012 reservations for tours have been filled at this time. People who would like to attend the tour in 2012 can sign up for space available spots (which may come available if people with reservations drop out). You may make a space available request by email, or by phone at (314) 453-1808. Notification for space available spots may be on short notice. If you have accepted an offered space available spot, you will get a confirmation e-mail with some clothing requirements and a copy of the visitor release.

Tour date and time	Current status (open/full/canceled)
January 27, 2012	No Tour (weather)
February 24, 2012, 12:30 p.m.	FULL
February 24, 2012, 2 p.m.	FULL
March 30, 2012, 12:30 p.m.	FULL
March 30, 2012, 2 p.m.	FULL
April 27, 2012, 12:30 p.m.	FULL
April 27, 2012, 2 p.m.	FULL
May 25,2012 12:30 p.m.	FULL
May 25, 2012 2 p.m.	FULL
June 29, 2012 12:30 p.m.	FULL
June 29, 2012 2 p.m.	FULL
July 27, 2012 12:30 p.m.	FULL
July 27, 2012 2 p.m.	FULL
August 31, 2012 12:30 p.m.	FULL
August 31, 2012 2 p.m.	FULL
September 28, 2012, 12:30 p.m.	FULL
September 28, 2012, 2 p.m.	FULL
October 26, 2012, 12:30 p.m.	FULL
October 26, 2012, 2 p.m.	FULL