CHAMP CLARK BRIDGE REPLACEMENT

Louisiana, Missouri

The original Champ Clark Bridge on US 54 over the Mississippi River was built in 1928. Construction for the new bridge included four river piers, each founded on 11-foot 6-inch-diameter drilled shafts, with three land piers that incorporate 48-inch-diameter pipe pile foundations and columns. The five river spans utilized steel plate girders, and the approaches utilized precast concrete girders. We doubled the current bridge’s width with 12-foot lanes and 10-foot shoulders to address issues with over-sized loads and to provide a safer river crossing. The project included significant approach work on the Illinois side, reconstruction and raising of a critical levee, as well as the rehabilitation and expansion of the adjacent intersection on the Missouri side, which included drainage improvements and enhanced lighting. By leveraging our extensive experience with very large diameter drilled shafts and major marine-based bridge projects, we produced a final design that reduced the number of shafts by 33 percent and utilized 12-foot-deep steel girders for the majority of this structure. Phased and early release design packages allowed for the majority of the river pier foundation work to be completed prior to the final design package being Issued for Construction.