Monday photo feature

Fairly often I mention the various bridges we have spanning the Mississippi River here at Memphis.  Pictured here is a trio of bridges down at the southern end of the Memphis riverfront.  The oldest bridge here is the middle one: the Frisco Bridge, the first bridge ever attempted across the lower Mississippi, was completed in 1892.  The next-oldest bridge is the Harahan Bridge on the left.  Finished in 1916, the Harahan, like the Frisco, continues to carry rail traffic across the river, and it enjoys newfound fame as a conveyance for the Big River Crossing bike and pedestrian trail.

The bridge that's visible beyond the Frisco Bridge is the Memphis-Arkansas Bridge, completed in 1949.  It carries Interstate 55 across the river.

Locals commonly refer to these bridges as the "old" bridges.  That's because there's a newer bridge, the Hernando DeSoto Bridge, a couple of miles upriver near the northern end of the riverfront.  Completed in 1972, the Hernando DeSoto Bridge carries Interstate 40 across the river.

The spot from which this photo was shot is usually dry land.  I took it during a high-water period, on the Arkansas side of the river looking east.  The main channel of the Mississippi passes beneath where the trusses appear atop the Harahan and Frisco Bridges.