The Mississippi River Bridges of Vicksburg, MS: An Introduction

Welcome to the gateway page for Gribblenation’s series on the bridges of the lower Mississippi River in Vicksburg, MS! Here you will find links to information about the two bridges that span the river at the historic city of Vicksburg. The bridges of Vicksburg were constructed during the period between the early automobile era of the 1920s and the height of the modern interstate highway era of the 1970s. Each has a unique story to tell and they play a vital part in the transportation system of the Mississippi Delta region.

Cover Photo: From left to right, the Vicksburg Bridge (1973) and the Old Vicksburg Bridge (1930) combine to create one of the most impressive bridge-related visuals on the lower Mississippi River.

Old Vicksburg Bridge
The Old Vicksburg Bridge was built in 1930 and was among the first railroad bridges built across the lower Mississippi River. It's unique deck design enabled both road and rail traffic to share deck space adjacent to one another through the steel cantilever truss superstructure.

Old Vicksburg Bridge (1930)

Vicksburg Bridge
The Vicksburg Bridge was built immediately downriver in 1973 and is part of Interstate 20 and US Highway 80, the latter relocating off it's long standing alignment on the "old" bridge to the more modern "new" bridge.

Vicksburg Bridge (1973)

Links to Gribblenation Articles:

Old Vicksburg Bridge (1930)

Vicksburg Bridge (1973)

Vicksburg's Mississippi River Bridges

How To Get There:

Bridges, Crossings, and Structures of the Lower Mississippi River
Return to the Bridges of the Lower Mississippi River Home Page
__________________________________________________

Comments

Did Caltrans just kill the G26 cutout US Route shields?

The US Route System was formally created by the American Association of State Highway Officials during November 1926. Through the history of the system the only state to which has elected to maintain cutout US Route shields has been California. The G26 series cutout US Route shields have become a favorite in the road enthusiast hobby and are generally considered to be much more visually pleasing than the standard Federal Highway Administration variant. However, the G26 shield series appears to have been killed off on January 18, 2026, when Caltrans updated their Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices. This blog will examine the history of the US Route shield specifications in California and what is happening with the 2026 changes. The blog cover photo is facing towards the terminus of California State Route 136 and at a G26-2 specification US Route 395 shield. In the background Mount Whitney can be seen in the Sierra Nevada range. ...

Hawaii Route 50

Hawaii Route 50 is the longest Sign Route on the island of Kauai at 32.6 miles. The entirety of Hawaii Route 50 is overlaid atop Kaumualii Highway from Lihue west to the Pacific Missile Range Facility at Barking Sands. Hawaii Route 50 is one of the original 1955-era State Highway designations on Kauai. Much of the Kaumualii Highway corridor was constructed during the sugar plantation boom of the late Hawaiian Kingdom. The first tee beam bridge in Hawaii would be constructed along the Kaumualii Highway in 1911 at the Hanapepe. Much of this highway would be modernized to two-lane standards through the 1930s and 1940s. This page is part of the Gribblenation Hawaii Roads series. A compellation of all Hawaii-related media from both Gribblenation and RoadwayWiz can be found by clicking here . Part 1; the history of Hawaii Route 50 and Kaumualii Highway Hawaii Route 50 is the longest highway on Kauai at 32.6 miles. The highway begins at Rice Str...

Ghost Town Tuesday; Nichols, FL

A couple years ago I spent a lot of spare time exploring phosphate mining ghost towns in the Bone Valley of Polk County, Florida. One ghost town in particular called Nichols on Polk County Route 676 west of Mulberry caught my eye due to a relative lack of documentation on ghosttowns.com. Nichols was created in 1905 during the early phosphate mining boom in the Bone Valley region. For the time Nichols was unusual since it had company housing in the Nichols Mine site and private residences outside the gate. Nichols is only about two miles west of Mulberry which probably made it a somewhat reasonable commute even by the wonky standards of the early 20th Century. Most of the Bone Valley region was relatively remote which made commuting or homesteading impractical which is why there are so many ghost towns in the area. The company housing section of Nichols was phased out and abandoned by 1950. The Nichols town site is largely abandoned and could "possibl...

Gribblenation

Search This Blog