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, 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. It was restored in 1986 at a cost of $11.5 million.
In 1913, William Edmund Scripps, flew a Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company flying boat underneath the original Belle Isle Bridge.
Two sets of streetcar tracks were built into the east side of the bridge but a streetcar route was never implemented. The tracks were eventually paved over in the 1950's.

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