MacArthur Bridge
Coordinates42°20′33″N 82°59′55″W / 42.3425°N 82.9985°W / 42.3425; -82.9985
Carries5 lanes of East Grand Boulevard
CrossesDetroit River
LocaleDetroit, Michigan
Official nameDouglas MacArthur Bridge
Other name(s)Belle Isle Bridge
Characteristics
DesignArch bridge
Total length2,193 feet (668 m)
Width85 feet (26 m)
Clearance below30 feet (9 m)
History
OpenedNovember 1, 1923
Location

The MacArthur Bridge spans the Detroit River in Detroit, Michigan. The bridge, which features nineteen total arches across 2,193 feet (668 m), provides main access between the city's mainland and Belle Isle. Completed in 1923 for $2.635 million, it replaced an iron bridge with wooden decking that accidentally caught fire and was destroyed in 1915. The bridge, popularly known as the Belle Isle Bridge, was originally named the George Washington Bridge and renamed the Douglas MacArthur Bridge after General Douglas MacArthur in 1942.[1][2] It was restored in 1986 at a cost of $11.5 million.[3]

In 1913, William Edmund Scripps (of the Scripps publishing family), flew a Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company flying boat underneath the original Belle Isle Bridge.[4]

Two sets of streetcar tracks were built into the east side of the bridge but a streetcar route was never implemented.[5] The tracks were eventually paved over in the 1950s.

References

  1. ↑ Austin, Dan (February 18, 2015). "The day it stopped being the Belle Isle Bridge". Detroit Free Press. Retrieved December 2, 2016.
  2. ↑ "Douglas MacArthur Bridge — Historic Detroit". www.historicdetroit.org. Retrieved December 2, 2016.
  3. ↑ "Douglas MacArthur Bridge". HistoricDetroit.org. Retrieved October 18, 2022.
  4. ↑ http://info.detnews.com/redesign/history/story/historytemplate.cfm?id=77&CFID=11849544&CFTOKEN=67648774%5B%5D
  5. ↑ "Belle Isle". www.detroittransithistory.info. Retrieved July 17, 2020.

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