[2] The bridge was named after James Beauchamp Clark, a former Speaker of the House from Bowling Green, Missouri.

This span collapse caused the failure of the first company formed to finance construction of the bridge, delaying completion for at least one year.

Pull-off areas were constructed, and all wide/oversized loads were required to pull over and call the Louisiana police department for an escort.

In 2015, MoDOT and IDOT were jointly awarded a federal TIGER grant to replace the bridge and reduce the cost to each state, and Illinois committed its share.

In 2016, MoDOT announced inclusion of funding for its portion of the bridge replacement cost in its draft five-year plan.