An environmental assessment completed in 1986 suggested that the costs of rehabilitating the MacArthur Bridge far outweighed the construction of a new bridge and recommended a cable-stayed bridge design in order to provide a navigation channel . Workers began building the new bridge , the Great River Bridge , in 1988 . The Great Flood of 1993 delayed opening of the bridge . The first two lanes opened to traffic on October 4 , 1993 , and opened fully on August 25 , 1994 . The new bridge cost $ 53 million ( equivalent to $ in dollars ) . The MacArthur Bridge was dismantled shortly after the Great River Bridge opened
Great Flood of 1993
Great Flood of 1993
U.S. Route 34 in Iowa