The Eads Bridge is a massive structure that stretches  across the Mississippi River from St. Louis to Illinois [where in St. Louis does it start?  where in Illinois does it end up?].  The bridge is approximately 1,520 feet long and about 125 years old.   The bridge is designed for both automobiles and railway cars. [so, it's double decked?] The main entrance is fifty-four feet wide.  Below are two lines of rails for the railway cars.   The top decking is made of wood and the arches below that are made from lime stone.   The original owners of the Eads Bridge were having financial problems shortly after it's [its, not it's] grand opening on July fourth, 1874.  [so, it was a privately built bridge?  who built it?  the railroad? a trading company?] After a while, the City of St. Louis purchased the bridge for development of the metro link.  Eads Bridge was closed in 1991 for repairs.  Now, the metro link is occupying the space where the rails are.   By the year 2000, the Eads Bridge will be open to the public. [you mean it's not open to the public now, or do you mean that it'll be open as a footbridge, or that cars will be allowed back on it?  clarify--it's been closed since 1991--also, what do you want to talk about in this paper? the rebuilding efforts? the building efforts? the problems or difficulties in reconstructing the bridge?  what?  be specific]

James B. Eads was an American engineer.  He was born in Larenceburge, Indiana, on May 23, 1820.  In 1867 [insert a comma] he built the Eads Bridge at a cost of about ten million dollars.  [for whom did he build it?] It took about seven years to build.  The Eads Bridge stretched across the Mississippi River at St. Louis. Before James constructed the bridge, he was building ironclad steamers for the Federal Government.  James Eads' last works he had done were on improving the mouth of the mississippi.  He designed the system of willow mattresses and stones witch [which] in turn confined the water to narrow passage ways in a deep channel.  James B. Eads died on March 8, 1887.  He was best known  for constructing the EAds [Eads] Bridge. [this is actually background information that would be better suited to the intro paragraph--are you trying to show anything in particular with the history of the man who built the bridge?  if so, clarify how this is an associated idea rather than just background info--how does it advance your thesis?  if not, move it to the intro paragraph and integrate it there]

Rebuilding the Eads Bridge is going to take allot [a lot is two words] of hard work.  Overall [insert a comma] the concrete on the above deck will be replaced and much of thee [the] lighting and circuits will also be replaced.  Replacing the deck while the metro link is still running will be an arduous task.  A form will be built over the tracks to protect them from debris.  The deck is approximately fifty-three feet ten inches wide.  Altogether there will be four lanes, although the outside lane will be for cyclists and pedestrians only.  Barges will also be used to repair the bricks on the archways.  Many lights have been damaged during construction on the metro link and from past floods.  Those will be fixed as well.  The designer has a good idea of what needs to be repaired for the millennium. [who is the designer?   lose the part 'for the millennium, it's irrelevant]

[introduce this idea of aestetic redesigning--what does it mean?] Among other things that will be fixed for the reopening, crews will install a decerative [decorative] hand rail that will strech [stretch] acoss [across] the entire bridge on bothsides [both sides] and special street lights that date back to the turn of the century.  Also, decerative [decorative] lights will outline the archways and the columns of the Eads Bridge.  The intensity of the lights will be increased as well by focusing spotlights on the coblestones [cobblestones].  All the wood will be replaced on the top deck, as well as the pavement.  The Eads Bridge will be a magnificant sight to see when everything is complete.

James B. Eads was warned that the design for the bridge would never work.  They said he was trying too many things.  His design was the first to incorparate [incorporate] large scale use of steel and also the first to use hollow tubular chords.  James [Eads, not James] was also the first to try the method of useing [using] opposite cantilevers for the construction of the bridge.  The bridge was formed by joining two beams at the center with a conecting chord.  The beams on the peers are supported by counterbalancing chords.  This method allowd them to start in the middle and work their way out.  James' ideas proved to be good one's. [ones, not one's] 

body 5?

body 6?

conclusion?