| Bridge Name: | Clark Bridge |
| Also Known As: | Clark Superbridge |
| Carries: | 4 lanes of |
| Crosses: | Mississippi River |
| Locale: | West Alton, Missouri and Alton, Illinois |
| Maint: | Illinois Department of Transportation |
| Mainspan: | 756feet |
| Length: | 4620feet |
| Open: | January 1994 |
| Coordinates: | 38.8822°N -90.1789°W |
The Clark Bridge is a cable-stayed bridge across the Mississippi River between West Alton, Missouri and Alton, Illinois. Named after explorer William Clark like the bridge it replaced, the cable-stayed bridge opened in 1994. It carries U.S. Route 67 across the river. It is the northernmost river crossing in the St. Louis metropolitan area.
The new $85 million, 108adj=midNaNadj=mid replaced the old Clark Bridge, which was only 20feet.[1] The truss bridge was built in 1928. The new bridge carries two lanes of divided traffic in each direction, as well as two bike lanes. The old bridge carried only two lanes (similar to the upstream Champ Clark Bridge).
The bridge is sometimes referred to as the Super Bridge, and its construction process was documented in the 1997 NOVA episode Super Bridge, which highlighted the challenges of building the bridge, especially during the Great Flood of 1993. Designed by Hanson Engineers under contract to Illinois Department of Transportation (DOT), the Clark Bridge was the first in the United States in which "such a light steel-framed cable-stayed design was combined with a cable saddle type of pylon".[1] The bridge used 8100ST of structural steel; of concrete; and more than 160miles of cable wrapped with 4acres of yellow plastic piping.[2]