 Starting in 1974, tollbooth attendants weighed tractor-trailers on either side as the bridge only allowed trucks to cross safely from one direction at a time.An environmental assessment completed in 1986 suggested that the costs of rehabilitating the MacArthur Bridge far outweighed the construction of a new bridge and recommended a cable-stayed bridge design in order to provide a navigation channel.Workers began building the new bridge, the Great River Bridge, in 1988.