JULIEN DUBUQUE BRIDGE

JULIEN DUBUQUE BRIDGE. Bridge connecting Dubuque, Iowa, with East Dubuque, Illinois. The Dubuque-East Dubuque Bridge Commission was established in 1938 with power to issue revenue bonds to finance the bridge. President Franklin D. Roosevelt vetoed the legislation because of his opposition to the tax-free nature of the bonds. In 1939 the bill was passed again with the bonds being taxable. Roosevelt signed the legislation on July 18, 1939, and the Commission was established two days later.

Begun in April 1941, the construction of the new bridge began on both the eastern and western shores of the MISSISSIPPI RIVER and eventually met mid-stream. A four-lane bridge was discussed, but rejected due to cost. The Commission had to issue $2.8 million in bonds as only $700,000 came from the federal government.

The structure extended 6,400-feet and consumed seven thousand tons of structural steel, one thousand tons of reinforcing steel, two and one-half million linear feet of piling, and thirty thousand cubic yards of concrete. Because it was wartime, the bridge was painted gray to better camouflage it in case of aerial attack. Costing $3.1 million, the bridge was opened on August 31, 1943, with free passage for the first fifteen hours.

With the completion of the Julien Dubuque Bridge, the DUBUQUE WAGON BRIDGE, a wooden toll bridge south of the Illinois Central railroad bridge and operated by the Dubuque-Dunleith Bridge Company, was purchased for just less than half a million dollars and then torn down in 1944.

Fears that gas rationing and lower automobile production would cause revenues on the toll bridge to fall short of paying off the bonds were unfounded. Traffic after the war was so heavy that the bonds were paid off fourteen years early. Tolls were removed on the bridge December 27, 1954. Six months later the Commission dissolved itself leaving its books showing $325,000 in the black. This money along with maintenance responsibilities was divided between the highway commissions of Iowa and Illinois.

In February 1991, the Julien Dubuque Bridge was closed to all traffic to allow major repairs. The structure was redecked, and both the Illinois and Iowa approaches to the bridge were reconstructed. On November 2, 1991, the bridge was reopened following a ceremony and a procession of antique cars that made the first crossing for motorized vehicles.