Braceville Bridge
Photos
Distant View To North
Photo taken by Historic American Engineering Record
View photos at Library of Congress
BH Photo #118005
Description
This was the first steel tied through arch built in Illinois. It was built for a new bypass routing of US 66 around Joliet. In 1957, US 66 was rerouted again, onto a new alignment to the west that would eventually become I-55, and this route was made IL 129, carrying only light local traffic. A 1994 inspection showed that the bridge had been allowed to deteriorate so badly that it was closed to traffic. After attempts to sell it failed, it was demolished in 2000.Facts
- Overview
- Lost steel tied through arch bridge over Union Pacific Rr, former Alton Railroad on IL 129, former US 66, between Braceville and Gardner.
- Location
- Braceville, Grundy County, Illinois
- Status
- Removed but not replaced
- History
- Buiilt 1939, US 66 rerouted off it 1957, allowed to deteriorate, demolished 2000
- Builder
- - Joliet Bridge & Iron Co. of Joliet, Illinois
- Design
- Steel tied through arch, had to be a long bridge due to huge skew in relation to the RR tracks it crossed.
- Dimensions
-
Length of largest span: 252.5 ft.
Total length: 1,095.5 ft.
Deck width: 26.0 ft.
- Skew angle
- 74 degrees
- Also called
- Gardner-Mazonia Bridge
Alton Railroad Viaduct
Alton Railroad Overhead Bridge - Approximate latitude, longitude
- +41.20758, -88.28395 (decimal degrees)
41°12'27" N, 88°17'02" W (degrees°minutes'seconds") - Approximate UTM coordinates
- 16/392355/4562595 (zone/easting/northing)
- Quadrangle map:
- Gardner
- Inventory numbers
- IL 032-0062 (Illinois bridge number)
BH 36915 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Update Log
- March 4, 2016: New photos from GS
- December 15, 2012: Updated by Roger Deschner: Correct location and which highway it was on (IL 129, not IL 53), add Description.
- January 28, 2012: New photo from Gene Smania
- July 23, 2008: Added by Kim Harvey
Sources
- Kim Harvey
- HAER IL-141 - Braceville Bridge, Spanning Southern Pacific Railroad tracks at State Route 129 (Old Route 66), Braceville vicinity, Grundy County, IL
- Roger Deschner - rogerdeschner [at] gmail [dot] com
Comments
Here are photos of the Illinois Rt 53 bridge over the railroad at the south edge of Gardner. They were taken after completion in 1929 by Art Kistler, an IDOT employee. This structure was replaced in 2000.
Two 1940 photos of structure taken by Art Kistler, IDOT.
Your marker on the map is in the wrong place. This bridge was north of Gardner over a branch rail line that runs north. The marker you are showing is for a simple deck girder bridge over the main line railroad running from Chicago to St. Louis at the south edge of Gardner near where the exit comes off I-55 into Gardner. It was replaced a few years back and still exists today. The Braceville Bridge was demolished in the 80's. You used to be able to see it off in the distance east of the current I-55 highway.
The bridge in fact is north of Gardner, near Braceville. There was debate near the same period of time over two bridges in this area for reconstruction. One being this bridge, and one bridge at the point that is on the map in Gardner. The one in Gardner is a simple viaduct over the UP. When IDOT decided not to fix the Braceville bride IL 129 was pulled back to end at IL 113. Below on this page is some pictures I have from the site after the bridge was removed.
The coordinates indeed are off a bit. The town the bridge is pinned at on the map is Gardner, not Braceville. The bridge was over the railroad tracks between Gardner and Braceville, at the Mazonia railroad junction. I used to see the bridge from I-55 when I was a kid and we'd drive up to Chicago. Later on, I used to go under the bridge on Amtrak trains, when Amtrak used to get rerouted from UP to BNSF tracks at Joliet, then used an old GMO and Santa Fe connector from Coal City to Mazonia. The main span was over the railroad, not the creek, but I think the approach spans did go over the creek, if I recall correctly. I've attached an old USGS areal picture of it I found some years ago. You can see the shadow cast by the bridge and the GMO/SF connector splitting off from the GMO (now UP) and heading north to Coal City. This was a grand bridge and a shame we have lost it.
From MS Streets & Trips, the approximate coordinates would be:
41.21013 N
88.28082 W
I believe the posted coordinates are on the wrong side of town. I remember this bridge further north at
+41.209947, -88.280839
41°12’35.81”N, 88°16’51.02”W
This page's URL is http://bridgehunter.com/il/grundy/braceville/
Local newspaper article August 1995