The Interstate Bridge between St. Louis and East St. Louis

{the interstate bridge at the bottom left provides travelers with a grand entrance into downtown, guiding them through the Gateway to the West}

The Poplar Street Bridge that now carries Interstates 64, 55, and 70 was part of an urban redevelopment vision for St. Louis centering round The Jefferson National Expansion Memorial (JNEM). City boosters and public officials, taking a cultural clue from America’s pioneers, wanted St. Louis to become a place worth exploring in its own right. When St. Louis began receiving federal funds in 1958 to build the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial – a six hundred foot monument commemorating America’s continental conquests and territorial triumphs – public officials and private industries began reimagining the economic future of St. Louis and began an earnest strategy to brand the city as the Gateway to the West.