page_title: Stan Musial Veterans Memorial Bridge
section_title: Naming
hierarchical_section_title: Stan Musial Veterans Memorial Bridge / Naming
caption_attribution_description: English: Stan Musial Veterans Memorial Bridge Aerial
context_page_description: The Stan Musial Veterans Memorial Bridge is a bridge across the Mississippi River between St. Clair County, Illinois, and the city of St. Louis, Missouri. Built between April 19, 2010, and July 2013, the bridge opened on February 9, 2014. The cable-stayed bridge has a main span of 1,500 feet.
context_section_description: In August 2004, William Perkins and Russ Reike, members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, gave Rep. Jerry Costello (D-IL) petitions with over 4,000 signatures supporting the naming of the new bridge "Veterans Memorial Bridge". There is a Veterans Memorial Bridge over the Missouri River. The Martin Luther King Bridge was originally called "Veterans Memorial Bridge" until it was renamed in 1968 following the assassination of the national civil rights leader. The naming proposal was supported by Rep. John Shimkus (R-IL) and Illinois Governor Pat Quinn. When the bridge was delayed by Missouri's postponement of funding, the petitions expired. Perkins and Reiki, joined by fellow VFW member Dave Stout, collected signatures again and in 2009 tuned over to Rep. Costello petitions with more than 13,000 names.
  On August 28, 2005, the Missouri State Legislature voted to name the bridge after President Ronald Reagan.
  In March 2011, the Missouri House of Representatives approved a proposal to change the name to "Jerry F. Costello–William Lacy 'Bill' Clay Sr. Veterans Memorial Bridge", for two prominent state politicians. One month later, the Missouri Senate Transportation Committee rejected the change.
  Some groups pushed for "Women Veterans Memorial Bridge".
  On January 22, 2013, Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Glendale, Missouri) introduced a bill to name the bridge after Stan Musial, the former St. Louis Cardinals baseball player who had recently died. The measure required the approval of both houses of both the Illinois and Missouri legislatures. The measure received the first of two necessary approvals from the Missouri Senate on February 20, 2013. An amendment to the Musial bill, sponsored by Sen. Gary Romine (R-Farmington, Missouri), named the Missouri approach to the bridge the Andy Gammon Memorial Highway in honor of the bridge worker who died.
  The two state legislatures agreed; the bridge was officially named the Stan Musial Veterans Memorial Bridge, with the signature of President Barack Obama on July 12, 2013.
caption: The completed Stan Musial Veterans Memorial Bridge
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