Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge

Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge
Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge
Coordinates	37°17′43″N 89°30′57″W / 37.29528°N 89.51583°W
Carries	4 lanes of Route 34 / IL 146
Crosses	Mississippi River
Locale	Cape Girardeau, Missouri and East Cape Girardeau, Illinois
Maintained by	Missouri Department of Transportation
Characteristics
Design	Cable-stayed bridge
Total length	3,955 feet (1,205 m)
Width	94 feet (29 m)
Longest span	1,149 feet (350 m)
Clearance below	60 feet (18 m)
History
Opened	December 13, 2003
Location
	Wikimedia \| © OpenStreetMap

The Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge is a cable-stayed bridge connecting Missouri's Route 34 and Route 74 with Illinois Route 146 across the Mississippi River between Cape Girardeau, Missouri and East Cape Girardeau, Illinois.^[1]

Old Cape Girardeau Bridge with replacement under construction, 1997.

It was built just south of its predecessor, the Cape Girardeau Bridge, which was completed in 1928 and demolished in 2004. Prior to its destruction, it was documented for the Library of Congress Historic American Engineering Record Survey number HAER MO-84.

The bridge is named after Bill Emerson, a Missouri politician who served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1981 until his death in 1996. Planning for the four-lane structure began in June 1987, and construction began in late 1996. Several factors have been blamed for the bridge's many delays in planning and construction, including Illinois' reluctance to participate in the project, as well as issues with the bedrock of the river (this resulted in the hiring of a new contractor).

The bridge was featured in the 2014 David Fincher film Gone Girl.^[2]^[3]