The Champ Clark Bridge is a five-span truss bridge

Truss bridge

A truss bridge is a bridge composed of connected elements which may be stressed from tension, compression, or sometimes both in response to dynamic loads. Truss bridges are one of the oldest types of modern bridges...

 over the Mississippi River

Mississippi River

The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...

 connecting Louisiana, Missouri

Louisiana, Missouri

Louisiana is a city in Pike County, Missouri, United States. The population was 3,863 at the 2000 census, making it the largest city in Pike Couunty. Louisiana is located in northeast Missouri, on the Mississippi River south of Hannibal....

 with the state of Illinois

Illinois

Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...

. It carries U.S. Route 54

U.S. Route 54

U.S. Route 54 is an east–west United States highway that runs northeast-southwest for 1,197 miles from western Illinois to El Paso, Texas. It enters and leaves Texas twice...

 northeast to Pittsfield, Illinois

Pittsfield, Illinois

Pittsfield is a city in Pike County, Illinois, United States. The population was 4,211 at the 2000 census.-History:The city was named after Pittsfield, Massachusetts. It is the county seat of Pike County...

, where U.S. 54 terminates.

The bridge is named after James Beauchamp Clark

James Beauchamp Clark

James Beauchamp Clark best known as Champ Clark was a prominent American politician in the Democratic Party from the 1890s until his death. A Representative of Missouri from 1893 to 1895 and from 1897 to 1921, he served as the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1911 to 1919...

, a former Speaker of the House

Speaker of the United States House of Representatives

The Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, or Speaker of the House, is the presiding officer of the United States House of Representatives...

 from Bowling Green, Missouri

Bowling Green, Missouri

Bowling Green is a city in Pike County, Missouri, United States. The population was 3,260 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Pike County.Ameren's Peno Creek Power Plant, a combustion turbine generator power plant, is located in Bowling Green....

. Clark served as Speaker from 1911 to 1919.

The bridge is narrow, allowing for two lanes of traffic on a 20 feet (6 m) deck. It was built in 1928. The bridge, originally painted silver, was repainted deep green in 1983, and repaired in 1999. In 2005, the Missouri Department of Transportation again rehabbed and repainted the bridge, replacing the green color of the bridge with gray. The bridge is 2,286.4 feet (697 m) in length. The span over the main channel of the Mississippi River is 418.5 feet (128 m) in length.