The Charles W. Dean Bridge, known before 1999 as the Great River Bridge, will be a cable-stayed bridge carrying Interstate 69 and US 278 across the Mississippi River between Arkansas City, Arkansas and Benoit, Mississippi. The location and the funding have been approved, however, as of February 1, 2006 construction had not begun. The Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department began land acquisition for the project in October 2006.
Preliminary studies indicate the bridge would be 4.25 miles (6.85 km) long, with one 1500-foot (460 m) cable-stayed span over the main channel of the river supported by two 450-foot (137 m) towers. A cost of $565 million has been estimated.
The structure's name is derived from Charles W. Dean (1927-1998), an engineer from Cleveland, Mississippi who proposed the bridge in 1984. A Mississippi legislative act named the proposed bridge after Dean in 1999.
Construction of the bridge did not appear on Arkansas' 2007-2010 Statewide Transportation Improvement Plan, meaning that it will be at least 2011 before construction starts on the bridge.
