From the Lawrence Daily Journal-World for April 7, 1972:

Lawrence’s bridge across the Kansas River was described in an article today as “a faithful public servant — daily carrying a load of about 17,000 cars and trucks but rarely getting any attention.” The 1,026-foot span, which had built in 1916 at a cost of $200,000, was now said to be suffering from “considerable deterioration” caused by wind, rain, ice and salt. The Kansas highway department had been approved to spend about $25,000 on an upcoming summer project to repair girders on the south arch, above the Santa Fe railroad tracks. Periodic inspections continued to indicate that the bridge was not yet unsafe for use; however, “I think ultimately we have to think of replacement of the bridge,” said Assistant City Manager Dennis Kallsen. Although the city of Lawrence was responsible for maintaining the structure, the state shared some of the burden because U.S. highways 40 and 59 crossed it. However, discussion of a new bridge had been dropped about a year earlier when it had been discovered that no state or federal aid was available for such a project. (Fans of local history might be interested to know that the 1972 bridge’s predecessor had cost $47,000 and had been completed in 1863; its construction had been interrupted by “the murder of a subcontractor and seven laborers by Quantrill’s raiders.”)