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Fun Facts
Here are the useless fun facts if you care:
Commercials: I don't remember any TV commercial shot on the IL side of the river; however, all the ones that I know were done on the other side of the river. (Like those Gateway Pontiac commercials shot in June/July 1993 -- one of them took no preference on what side of the river you were on.)
Antique Car Parade: The afternoon of July 26, 1988 when part of the westbound lanes between routes 157 and 111 were blocked off for a ceremony opening I-255 from I-55/70 to 270. It not only was held on one of the hottest days in memory -- it was held right before Tuesday afternoon rush hour started!! The reason why its known as the "Antique Car Parade" was the fact most of the cars used to transport the govenor, and other officals were antique cars.
"Escape from New York": though the highway had nothing to do with this movie nor was mentioned/shown in any part, its the fact that part of the movie was shot on Choateau Island (the scene of those people on a "farm" and of course "The 69th Street Bridge"). And we all know that Choateau Island is still rural, and the "69th Street Bridge" scene was shot on the Old Chain of Rocks Bridge, the bridge that predated 270.
TV Shows: It was shown in part on a episode of "Discover Illinois", which is a show showed on certain PBS channels and produced by the PBS station in Carbondale, IL back in August 1998. It has also been mentioned in "Real Stories of the Highway Patrol" -- but where the highway was clearly 255. Its been mentioned in other TV shows -- but on the other side of the Mighty Mississippi.
Flood of 1993: Even though the new COR Bridge is only 4 lanes and have just a 36' clearance at normal river stages, the highway remained opened throughout the entire Flood of 1993, while nearby crossings -- some with 75' clearances -- were closed by either flooded approaches or by the extremely high waters. As a matter of fact, it was the only crossing from Venice to Muscatine that was opened for the entire duration, though the Keokuk and Alton crossings were open for a majority of the time (but neither of those were open during the height of the flooding).
Not only was the highway the only link for Madison Countians in the worst of the floods into Missouri (okay, you could use the 255-55/70 combo that I sometimes use to get to St. Louis), the highway also provided some dramatic views of the flood that made viewing the flood from the Arch child's play. The scenes there were too real -- farms competely flooded out. During the day on weekends, there would be people parked out on the islands viewing the flood. Even though the county sherriff was sent out on the islands once to try to dispense the gawkers -- it did little to keep them off. (If anyone have any photos of the views of the Flood of 1993 from Choateau Island to submit, email them here.)