The bridge arrives on the Missouri shore line just south of the Gateway Arch.

The request generated enormous controversy and ultimately 2.5 acres (1.0 ha) of the Jefferson Expansion National Memorial (which included all of the original platted area of St. Louis when it was acquired in the 1930s and 1940s) was given to the bridge.

The traffic was heavily congested until the opening of the new Stan Musial Veterans Memorial Bridge in early February 2014.

In 2012, 123,564 vehicles used it every day,[3] but after the new bridge opened, congestion alleviated by almost 14%, less than the predicted 20% decline with 106,500 vehicles using it every day because total traffic across the river from all bridges increased by 7.4% over 2013 levels.

The old alignment of I-70 through downtown to the west approach for the Stan Musial Veterans Memorial Bridge became an extension of I-44.