The Mark Twain Memorial Bridge is the name for two bridges over the Mississippi River

Mississippi River

The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...

 at Hannibal, Missouri

Hannibal, Missouri

Hannibal is a city in Marion and Ralls counties in the U.S. state of Missouri. Hannibal is located at the intersection of Interstate 72 and U.S. Routes 24, 36 and 61, approximately northwest of St. Louis. According to the 2010 U.S. Census the population was 17,606...

, childhood home of Mark Twain

Mark Twain

Samuel Langhorne Clemens , better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist...

, for whom the bridge is named. The current bridge, north of the original site, was finished in 2000; the original bridge, built in 1936, was demolished. The bridge currently carries traffic for Interstate 72

Interstate 72

Interstate 72 is an Interstate Highway in the midwestern United States. Its western terminus is in Hannibal, Missouri, at an intersection with U.S. Route 61; its eastern terminus is at Country Fair Drive in Champaign, Illinois. In 2006, the Illinois General Assembly dedicated all of Interstate 72...

 and U.S. Highway 36. The state of Missouri

Missouri

Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...

 has put up a stone picture of Twain on the Missouri side of the bridge.

1936 span

The original bridge (also called the Mark Twain Memorial Bridge) was opened in 1936 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...

 and entered Missouri at the foot of Cardiff Hill which appeared in Twain's books The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain is an 1876 novel about a young boy growing up along the Mississippi River. The story is set in the Town of "St...

 and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. A crosswalk crossed the highway, connecting the Twain boyhood home with the lighthouse at the top of the hill. It originally carried only US 36, but with the extension of Interstate 72 west across Missouri, a new bridge was needed and was built to the north of the original bridge.

2000 span

The current bridge opened to traffic on September 16, 2000. As part of the construction project, U.S. 36 was rerouted further north, eliminating a dangerous sharp curve that had been on the Missouri approach. Prior to the rerouting, the old bridge ran through downtown Hannibal, just north of Hill Street. The cost of the bridge was $55 million.