Bridge with built-in illusion ongoing hazard by St. Louis

Lights will be added to the bridge where a gap looks smaller than it actually is.

BRIDGETON, Mo. -- Transportation officials will light the underside of the Discovery Bridge to eliminate an optical illusion that has contributed to at least five people jumping or falling from the bridge since 1992.

On the Highway 370 Discovery Bridge, a 12- to 20-foot gap between the westbound and eastbound lanes looks smaller than it is.

Several people -- including a man still missing Tuesday and presumed drowned following a Sunday accident -- have jumped or fallen from the bridge over the Missouri River since it opened in 1992.

The Missouri Department of Transportation just awarded a $45,993 contract on Friday to install lights on the underside of the approaches on both ends of the bridge. Installation likely will begin next month, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

The Discovery Bridge has eight lanes, with four in each direction, and carries about 60,000 vehicles daily. It appears to be the area's only large bridge with a high incidence of pedestrian falls.

On Sunday just before midnight, a 22-year-old St. Louis County man whose name has not been released, and a friend were heading west on the bridge. The driver, who survived, stopped the Mazda sedan so both could look at the river, police said. After looking from the westbound span, the two men tried to jump to the eastbound span to take in the view from there.

Instead, the driver and missing man fell 50 to 75 feet into the river. The driver, identified as Justin Winter, 21, of St. Charles County, managed to swim to shore. Authorities said he suffered cuts and mild hypothermia.

The last previous incident happened in April, when a man tried to elude state troopers after a routine traffic stop and attempted to jump between the spans. He died in a 40-foot fall to the riverbank.

In 2002, a bread truck driver died when he fell between the spans while walking back to his disabled vehicle.

In June 1997, a man was in the river for three hours and was pushed five miles downstream after he fell from the bridge. He walked a mile to a house for help.