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Poll: who would you name our new bridge after?

May 9, 2010 STL Region, Transportation, Weekly Poll 23 Comments

The new bridge over the Mississippi River has been named the Ronald Wilson Reagan Memorial Bridge. Reagan was born in Tampico, IL (4+ hours away) in 1911 but moved to California in the 1930s.

In August 2004 William Perkins and Russ Reike, members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, gave Rep. Jerry Costello (D-IL) petitions with over 4,000 signatures supporting the naming of the new bridge “Veteran’s Memorial Bridge”. This effort is supported by Rep. John Shimpkus (R-IL) and Illinois Governor Pat Quinn. The Missouri State Legislature voted on August 28, 2005 to name the bridge after Ronald Reagan (Source: Wikipedia)

There are many others from the St. Louis area (Illinois & Missouri) that would be better to name the bridge after.Â The Agnes Moorehead Memorial Bridge has some campy appeal, traffic reporters could say things like, “There is an accident on the Endora so expect delays.” Seriously, someone from the metro east would be a much better fit than Reagan who grew up more than four hours north of the metro area.

Although she was born in DuPage County near Chicago, the late Katherine Dunham often called East St. Louis her home.Â The poll this week asks who you’d name the bridge after.Â I’ve included a long list but you have the option to name your own answer.

- Steve Patterson

JZ71

Who named it for Reagan? Missouri legislature? Illinois legislature? Why was there no public process? Can we vote to change it?

http://urbanreviewstl.com/ Steve Patterson

As I quoted; “The Missouri State Legislature voted on August 28, 2005 to name the bridge after Ronald Reagan.”

Luqman

Post-Dispatch seems to think that the bridge has not yet been named:
“Which brings us to the new bridge. There already have been efforts to name it the Ronald Reagan Memorial Bridge or the (second) Veterans Memorial Bridge. Under the two-state agreement on the bridge, a name has to be agreed to by the Missouri and Illinois legislatures. So far, they have not agreed to anything.”
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/columnist…

Will

This makes more sense to me. I thought it was a little strange that Missouri (Missourah, actually, if it's the legislature at work) would get to pick the name unilaterally when Illinois is paying about three times as much as Missouri.

Michael Brickey

Well it happened in the 60s with the PSB. The PSB is not actually the name of the bridge. The official name of the bridge was the Bernard J. Dickman Bridge, in honor of a previous St. Louis mayor. (See below for some interesting names that were thrown around in 1966-67).

JZ71

We've talked a whole lot more about the Mark McGuire Highway than we've talked about naming this bridge . . .
EUO

Hi Steve,
Is there any reasonable means to changing the name before the bridge opens?
Thanks

http://urbanreviewstl.com/ Steve Patterson

I'm not sure, I hope to find out more specifics this week.

KCSTL

Veterans isn't such a bad name. It is reasonable, non-political, not going to offend the city that the bridge leads to. Naming it Ronald Reagan bridge must be the idea of some right wing rural ass who is trying to “show those city folks”. I would think that after the mess Reagan and his politics left this country we wouldn't even want to name a porta-pottie after him…..but if I am going to go out on a limb and try for something more creative, I would say name it the Josephine Baker Bridge. She has a crappy street named after her and deserves something better. Also, naming this bridge after her would instantly give it a touch of pizazz. Just an idea.

JZ71

For some of us from the Vietnam era, veterans does carry negative baggage, not for the veterans themselves, but for the politics behind the war.

http://urbanreviewstl.com/ Steve Patterson

The ML King Bridge was known as the Veterans Bridge from 1951 until renamed for Dr. King.

Douglas Duckworth

Dick Gephardt or Jet Banks.
SUP SUP

Pierre Laclede, and if a second bridge is built Auguste Chouteau

JZ71

The Poplar Street Bridge is also a logical candidate.

awb

Homer G. Phillips get my vote. Since the hospital closed, his name needs to be put on something so people remember him and his achievements.
JZ71

Bigger picture is the whole need/desire to name public stuff for private citizens in the first place. Sure, I understand why politicians and/or those related to the namee like the “honor”, but the larger community derives little benefit and, many times, gets saddled with additional confusion. Locals may or may not know where the Blanchette Bridge is, but I'm guessing that fewer know, or even care, who he or she was or will take the effort to find out what they contributed. Add in the tendency to abbreviate the names and construction or highway signs that flash “DELAY ON PSB” have absolutely no meaning to too many people.

And, at the other end of the spectrum, how many things need to be named JFK, MLK, Washington, Jefferson or Reagan? These icons of American history will never be forgotten. Still, I like the idea out of the west coast to name a sweage treatment plant for George Bush . . .
stlsig

Based on the comments I assume all of you would be ok if we just called it Barak Obama Blvd. As I read Steve's article, his objection is because the President while from the region isn't from the area. Not that he was a conservative president.

The Veterans name does seem to get us away from the divisiveness of our current political climate. As for the commenter who said that Veterans holds a negative connotation for a small segment, assuming your a veteran of the military, with all due respect, that term is a general one that covers every veteran and I think there are a large group from the past few wars that are due the little bit of respect that naming a bridge in their honor (and yours) gives them.

dennis

The bridge should be called The VETERANS BRIDGE! Period! Case Closed. We once had a veterans bridge but the name was changed.

JZ71

One argument for Veterans is the bridge design itself – with proper lighting, it could be a giant “V” floating over the Mississippi . . .

mj314

Alton has the Clark Bridge, why not call it the Meriwether Bridge. Also the designs of the two bridges are similar with the cable-stayed look. It would be cool, if they used a complimentary color, to mimic off of the Clark Bridge.

dennis

There is already a LEWIS bridge over the Missouri River before you get to the Clark bridge. And that “Lewis” comes from Meriwether Lewis, incase you didn't know. You must be from Missouri.

stljoie

ick! That doesn't make sense…what did he EVER do for St. Louis.
Michael Brickey

I'll add some interesting historical facts about the PSB. Here are some of the names that people in the area lobbied for in 1966-67. I found these doing research on the PSB and the construction of the highway in East St. Louis. These were all found at SIUE in the Alvin Fields papers. Fields was mayor of E. St. Louis from 1955-1971.
The name of the bridge is in quotes. Any number in ( ) indicates the number of letters Fields received with this particular request. The place names indicate where the resident who sent the letter lived in the metro area.

o â€œTru-Linkâ€ in honor of the two statesâ€™ greatest presidents, Truman and Lincoln â€“ Maplewood, MO
o â€œFort San Carlos Bridgeâ€ â€“ (4) East St. Louis, Brentwood, Belleville, and local chapter of the Sons of the Revolution
o â€œChief Pontiac Bridgeâ€ in honor of a great Indian chief slain along the banks â€“ Elsberry, MO
o â€œFather of Waters Bridgeâ€ â€“ E. St. Louis
o â€œGateway Bridgeâ€ â€“ (3) E. St. Louis, E. St. Louis, St. Louis
o â€œArch Bridge of St. Louisâ€ â€“ St. Louis
o â€œInterstate Bridgeâ€ â€“ St. Louis
o â€œMetropolitan Bridgeâ€ â€“ Collinsville
o â€œMartin Luther King Bridgeâ€ â€“ University City
o â€œEast-West Bridgeâ€ â€“ Webster Groves

Some of these certainly don't blow us away with their creativity, but I think they show that people weren't solely focused on exceptional individuals. I like the fact that some famous E. St. Louisans made your list Steve, but I think we should broaden our conceptual framework and focus on how the bridge connects the metropolitan region. If we are going to stick with exalting individuals, I like the “Tru-Link” name. It could be our shorthand name for a bridge in honor of Lincoln and Truman while implying its connection to the diversified transportation network that we hope will become a reality in the next 50 years.

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