Legislation is on its way to Governor Jay Nixon (D) that would name the new Mississippi River Bridge being built at St. Louis for the late Cardinals slugger Stan "the Man" Musial.
House Bill 303 would also rename the stretch of I-70 that will cross the new bridge for construction worker Andy Gammon, who died last year while working on the bridge. Governor Nixon is expected to sign the bill. State Representative Rick Stream (R, Kirkwood) co-sponsored it. He says, though, that lawmakers in Illinois want the bridge to be called the "Veterans Memorial Bridge."
"You know, Stan, being the very humble man that he was, and a veteran, too, he probably wouldn’t care," Stream said. "He probably doesn't care that we're talking about it at this point in time."
When asked, Stream said he would not have a problem with the bridge being named the "Stan Musial-Veterans Memorial Bridge." Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Illinois Senator Dick Durbin (D) said recently that naming rights lie with Congress and the president, because the project was built with federal aid.
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