The current 4-lane Liberty Memorial Bridge, opened in 2008, replaced a 2-lane vehicle bridge which was in use since 1922. The people of Mandan and Bismarck worked together to provide a structure built with tradition, vision and honor.
The Liberty Memorial Bridge honors all military veterans who served and are serving in the armed services during our country's history.
This bridge's design incorporates plazas at each end with 11 spires to symbolize the Armistice, which is the peace agreement signed at the 11th hour of the 11th day in the 11th month of 1918 to end World War I. Different panels outlining background information on the bridges and their details of their construction and operation are provided at the plazas on each end. The original memorial plate was recovered from the 1922 bridge and incorporated into the west plaza as the historic connection to the former bridge.
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The two prairie rock plinths mounted with the bronze plaques which originally stood on each end of the former bridge were recovered and installed as a feature of the end-plazas. The plaques, provided by the local chapter of the American War Mothers in 1924, marked the bridge as part of a rural stretch of gravel road from the intersection of Hannifin Street and Main Street in Bismarck, along Front Avenue, across the bridge and down "the Strip" until it reached the east end of its Main Street at today's Mandan Avenue. Thay section of US Highway 10 was redesignated as "Memorial Highway" by both cities, a designation that remains today.
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Five overlooks on the south edge of the pedestrian walkway with their flags and service branch seals honor a different branch of the United States military: Army, Marine Crops, Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard. Flags are raised at a minimum of five days per year: Memorial Day, Flag Day, Independance Day, Labor Day and Veterans Day. All veterans are intended to by honored by the flags, plazas and south-side overlooks are symbolic of all service men and women standing guard and protecting our communities.
Work on the bridge began in 2006 when, after significant studies were undertaken, that the prior Liberty Memorial Bridge could not be brought up to modern standards to handle the growth in traffic from the original level of 2000 cars per day to more modern 15,000 cars per day estimates.
The steel-box bridge consists of 14 spans with 6 piers located in the Missouri River. It spans 2370 feet between major abutments, is 84 feet 8 inches wide and provides 285 feet of vertical clearance baove the river. Concrete used for the structure included 5000 psi concrete using coal fly-ash as aggregate reinforced by epoxy-coated reinforcing steel rebar to combat the impacts of road salt.
The cost of the bridge, approaches and associated road improvements totaled $62 million. The bridge is owned by the North Dakota Department of Transportation. The general contractor for the project was Lunda Construction Company of Black River Falls, Wisconsin.
East Approach Plaza
Each end-plaza, including the spires, and adjacent lower level parks are lit at night. Lights are also provided at each of the 5 pedistrian walkway outcroppings and associated flag poles as well as along the underside of the bridge which make for a very dramatic appearance.
Additional information is available at the the YouTube video produced by the ND Department of Transportation as part of the cultural/historical mitigation effort associated with the removal of the original bridge. Both the original ND Liberty Memorial Bridge from 1922 as well as the new Liberty Memorial Bridge which opened in 2008 are included.
It can be viewed on the YouTube channel at:
https://youtu.be/cUN_VXeIQdQ?feature=shared
The MHSoc's museum and office is located at 3827 30th Avenue NW; Mandan, ND 58554 Contact us at info@mandanhistory.org
