From and after June 18, 1991, the Mississippi River Bridge on U.S. Highway 49 near Lula, Mississippi, from its easternmost point westward to the Arkansas state line, shall be named and designated the "Hernando de Soto Commemorative Bridge" in recognition, observation and commemoration of Spanish Explorer Hernando de Soto who discovered the Mississippi River on May 8, 1541, and subsequently crossed the river on June 18, 1541.