HANNIBAL – The team working to establish who will help the Missouri and Illinois Departments of Transportation to design and build a new Champ Clark Bridge is making progress. “Since this is a design-build project, we are seeking out industry who may be interested in working on the team, and we’ve held our first meeting with several who have expressed interest,” said MoDOT Project Director Keith Killen, P.E. The Champ Clark Bridge is located on U.S. 54 over the Mississippi River at Louisiana, Missouri.
Last week, about 50 interested contractors, suppliers and consultants attended a meeting at the MoDOT Northeast District office in Hannibal to learn how they can start the process to potentially be selected as part of the design-build team. “We were very pleased with the turn out, especially since so many of them traveled quite a ways to get here,” he explained.
Killen said the next step is interested teams are preparing their Statements of Qualifications for MoDOT and IDOT to evaluate. From these qualifications Keith and his team will short-list those teams that will compete to design and construct the new bridge . “We expect to have a selection of 2 to 5 teams the first part of February,” he said.
In the meantime, MoDOT’s right of way department is working with property owners in the area as they begin the land acquisition process. The preferred alternative location of the bridge, which is just to the south of the existing bridge, was determined following a three-year environmental assessment process.
Information about the Champ Clark Bridge is housed at www.champclarkbridge.com, including any upcoming repairs to the existing bridge, although there are none scheduled at this time.
Those interested in receiving information about the bridge can subscribe to MoDOT’s e-update service at https://www6.modot.mo.gov/eMoDOTWeb/jsp/signon/signon.jsp, as well as text alerts for road closures.
Cutline for Attached Photo: Keith Killen, Champ Clark Bridge project director, addresses the industry audience at a recent meeting in Hannibal.