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The Benjamin G. Humphreys Bridge is a two lane cantilever bridge carrying US 82 and US 278 across the Mississippi River between Lake Village, Arkansas and Greenville, Mississippi. The bridge is named for Benjamin G. Humphreys II, a former United States Congressman from Greenville. A new bridge, the Greenville Bridge, is being built as a replacement slightly downriver. This is because the bridge is a navigation hazard for vehicles on the bridge as well as barges going underneath the bridge.
While the Mississippi River is the commonly accepted state line, the official line lies on the east bank due to the river shifting slightly westward. Because of this, the main span of the bridge is located entirely in Arkansas.
Until the Charles W. Dean Bridge is constructed, US 278 will cross the Mississippi River at Greenville.
[edit] History
In the late 1930s, talk started on the construction of a bridge to cross the Mississippi River at Greenville. In 1936, a group called the Arkansas-Mississippi-Alabama US 82 Association was formed to fundraise for the bridge. In 1937, Milton C. Smith (the mayor at that time) worked with John A. Fox, (the secretary of the Washington County Chamber of Commerce), to get Congress to pass a law authorizing the bridge. The bill authorizing the bridge was signed into law in August of 1937 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. In 1938, Smith applied for money from the Works Progress Administration to fund the estimated $4.5 million it would take to build the bridge. The Works Progress Administration agreed to the proposal in September of 1938, and construction started on the bridge a few months later. On October 4, 1940, the Bridge was officially opened to traffic.
[edit] Destruction
After the new Greenville Bridge is opened to traffic around Fall of 2009, the Benjamin G. Humphreys Bridge will be taken apart in 16 foot sections and shipped away to be recycled.
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