Key takeaways
- The northern crossings, Clark and Chain of Rocks, land in north St. Louis County. The Hazelwood room is on that side of the county.
- The downtown crossings, Stan Musial, MLK, Eads, and Poplar Street, feed the city core. From there Hazelwood is up I-170 or north on I-70, and Tesson Ferry is down I-55.
- The southern crossing, the Jefferson Barracks Bridge on I-255, points at Tesson Ferry almost by itself.
- The bridge is not the hard part. The 12 to 2 close is. Aim for mid-morning.
The Metro East crosses the river for work, for ballgames, for the airport, and for family on the other side. Most people have a bridge they trust and a bridge they avoid, and the honest version of this page is: use the one you trust. What follows is where each one lands you relative to the clinic's three Missouri rooms.
The table
The northern crossings
Clark Bridge, US 67. If you live in Alton, Godfrey, or the river road towns above it, this is your bridge. It lands in West Alton, Missouri, and US 67 runs south from there as Lindbergh Boulevard, straight through Florissant into north county. The Hazelwood room is in that part of the county. Confirm the last turns with the clinic or your maps app; this desk does not publish street-level directions it cannot stand behind.
Chain of Rocks Bridge, I-270. For Granite City, Pontoon Beach, Edwardsville, Glen Carbon, Wood River, and Maryville, I-270 is the straight line. It crosses the river, keeps going west through north St. Louis County, and the Hazelwood room is on that side. Troy and Collinsville can reach it by I-55 north to I-270 or by 55/70 to the Stan Musial, and either works.
McKinley Bridge, Illinois Route 3. A local crossing from Venice into north St. Louis city. From the Missouri side you are working north on surface streets or I-70 to reach the county; useful if you already use it, not worth learning for this trip.
The downtown crossings
Stan Musial Veterans Memorial Bridge, I-70. The cable-stayed span north of downtown carries I-70 across. If you are coming down 55/70 from Collinsville or Troy, this is the bridge the road gives you. I-70 west runs past the airport; Hazelwood sits north of it, and the clinic's O'Fallon, Missouri room is much farther out the same interstate across the Missouri River in St. Charles County. Most Metro East readers should get off well before that.
Martin Luther King Bridge and Eads Bridge. Two surface-street crossings from East St. Louis into downtown. Eads carries MetroLink on its lower deck. From downtown you are choosing north or south: I-70 or I-170 north toward Hazelwood, I-55 south toward Tesson Ferry. They are fine bridges. They are not faster than the interstates for this trip.
Poplar Street Bridge, I-55 and I-64. The workhorse. Belleville, Fairview Heights, Swansea, O'Fallon, Illinois, Shiloh, and Scott Air Force Base come down I-64 to it. Cahokia Heights and Sauget come up I-55. On the Missouri side the road splits, and so does your choice: I-55 south leads toward the Tesson Ferry room; I-70 north leads toward Hazelwood. Either is a real option from St. Clair County. Pick by which end of St. Louis County you already know.
The southern crossing
Jefferson Barracks Bridge, I-255. For Columbia, Waterloo, Dupo, Millstadt, and the south end of Belleville, this is the bridge, and it points at the Tesson Ferry room almost by itself. I-255 crosses the river, and on the Missouri side the beltway continues west and becomes I-270 past I-55; the Tesson Ferry Road exit comes soon after. The South County room is at 11144 Tesson Ferry Road, Suite 200, phone (314) 530-5480.
About the O'Fallon room
The clinic's third room is at 2163 West Terra Lane in O'Fallon, Missouri, in St. Charles County, off I-70 west of the Missouri River. It is not the O'Fallon in St. Clair County, Illinois. For most of the Metro East it is the longest drive of the three and the wrong choice; it makes sense only if your week already runs out I-70 toward Wentzville. The two O'Fallons exists because this confusion is real.
Timing the crossing
The bridge is not the hard part. The 12 to 2 close is. All three rooms close from noon to 2 every day, and Friday is mornings only at Hazelwood and Tesson Ferry. A mid-morning appointment beats the morning rush on the Poplar Street and the lunch close in one move. If you are booking for after 2, remember the afternoon rush builds on the eastbound side, which is the direction you will be going home.
Whichever bridge, the call is the same: say it was a car crash, say the date, ask for an exam this week. A documented exam this week protects your health and your options.