MacArthur Bridge (Detroit)

The MacArthur Bridge is a bridge that spans the Detroit River between Detroit, Michigan and Belle Isle. The bridge, which features nineteen total arches across 2,193 feet (668 m), provides main access to Belle Isle. Completed in 1923 for $2.635 million USD, it replaced an iron bridge with wooden decking that accidentally caught fire and was destroyed in 1915. The bridge, popularly known as the Belle Isle Bridge, was originally named the George Washington Bridge and later renamed the Douglas MacArthur Bridge after General Douglas MacArthur in 1942.[1][2] It was restored in 1986 at a cost of $11.5 million.[3]

MacArthur Bridge
Coordinates	42°20′33″N 82°59′55″W
Carries	5 lanes of East Grand Blvd.
Crosses	Detroit River
Locale	Detroit, Michigan and Belle Isle Park
Official name	Douglas MacArthur Bridge
Other name(s)	Belle Isle Bridge
Characteristics
Design	Arch bridge
Total length	2,193 feet (668 m)
Width	85 feet (26 m)
Clearance below	30 feet (9 m)
History
Opened	November 1, 1923
Location

In 1913, William Edmund Scripps (of the Scripps publishing family), flew a Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company flying boat underneath the original Belle Isle Bridge.[4]

Two sets of streetcar tracks were built into the east side of the bridge but a streetcar route was never implemented.[5] The tracks were eventually paved over in the 1950s.

Photo gallery

• 
  Entering Belle Isle from MacArthur Bridge
• 
  View of bridge from Belle Isle.

References

1. Austin, Dan (February 18, 2015). "The day it stopped being the Belle Isle Bridge". Detroit Free Press. Retrieved December 2, 2016.
2. "Douglas MacArthur Bridge — Historic Detroit". www.historicdetroit.org. Retrieved December 2, 2016.
4. http://info.detnews.com/redesign/history/story/historytemplate.cfm?id=77&CFID=11849544&CFTOKEN=67648774%5B%5D
5. "DETROIT TRANSIT HISTORY.info: Belle Isle". www.detroittransithistory.info. Retrieved 2020-07-17.

External links

Media related to MacArthur Bridge (Detroit River) at Wikimedia Commons