An dedication ceremony for the rehabilitated McKinley Bridge is set for 10:30 a.m. Nov. 17 on the Illinois side of the bridge, announced Kyle Anderson, assistant to the chief of operations of the Illinois Department of Transportation, on Tuesday.

After that, the bridge will be open to vehicular traffic for about four hours. The bridge will be closed to traffic again for another four or five days because of “weather and painting issues,” Anderson said, then a grand opening will be held. However, the bridge will remain open to pedestrians after Nov. 17, he said.

Also on Nov. 17 at 9:30 a.m., there will be a dedication to a park on the Illinois side of the bridge by the It Starts Here group. The park will include a five-story statue, called “Salute to Steel,” and an informational kiosk about the area’s steel-manufacturing history. You can see a photo of the partly finished statue on Page 2 of the Tri City Port newsletter (Acrobat file).

In case you’re having trouble opening the file, here’s an excerpt that shows the photo of the partially completed statue:

The McKinley Bridge, built in 1910, was closed to traffic in 2001 because of marked deterioration. It carried Route 66 from Venice, Ill., to St. Louis over the Mississippi River in one of the region’s many alignments.

When the bridge reopens, it will be a free bridge. It was a toll bridge for many years.

According to an earlier story this year by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, “its center lanes will carry two lanes of vehicle traffic. The outside lanes will carry bicycles and pedestrians.”

Reader Dan Imming sent a few photos after the Green Parrot tavern on Route 66 in Galena, Kan., was demolished. The century-old building was structurally compromised when a sinkhole, caused by collapsing underground mine, opened behind the property.

Imming says the demolition contractor is carefully salvaging the bricks, stone and wood, which will be used to restore another old building not on Route 66.

If you’re in Galena, don’t ask the workmen whether you can buy a few of those bricks. Imming tried, and was rebuffed.

Imming did manage to acquire one of the building’s Miami Stone window ledges made in nearby Miami, Okla. Imming has an 1891 building in Galena he’s trying to fix up, and the ledge will come in handy with that endeavor.

Route 66 News recently received a quick note from Kyle Anderson of the Illinois Department of Transportation, informing us that the scheduled Nov. 10 reopening of the McKinley Bridge that connects Venice, Ill., to St. Louis has been delayed.

Anderson said an official reopening hasn’t been set, but it will be a week or two later than the initial tentative date.

So it’s likely the bridge will be reopened to traffic before Thanksgiving.

The McKinley Bridge, built in 1910, was closed to traffic in 2001 because of deterioration. The state of Illinois has spent millions of dollars to rehab the bridge. It carried Route 66 over the Mississippi River in one of the St. Louis region’s many alignments.

The bridge was a toll bridge for many years. When it reopens, it will be a free bridge.

UPDATE: Opening ceremony for bridge set for Nov. 17. See story here.

On Sunday, the state of New Mexico added a new telephone area code of 575.

Until recently, New Mexico was one of the few states left to have one area code — 505.

This change will affect a number of businesses on Route 66, including the towns of Tucumcari and Santa Rosa. Albuquerque, Grants, Las Vegas, Santa Fe and Gallup will stay in the 505.  The map of the area codes is here.

If you dial 505 instead of the 575, don’t fret too much. The complete changeover won’t occur until January 2009. Details on the timeline are here.