Posted June 2, 2011, by Andy Jankowski (andyj [at] hometel [dot] com)
I live in Highland, so this bridge entry caught my eye. I am however, confused by the description given. The old highway underpass shown in "Streetview" is of the Sycamore Street underpass and I believe this is accurately described in the text. But, the recent K. Harvey photograph shows the Poplar Street/IL Route 160 grade crossing. The problem I have is the text appears to imply there was a plate girder bridge at this location as well. To satisfy my curiosity, I reviewed a 1941 aerial photograph and could plainly see it was an at-grade crossing at Poplar Street. In fact, a vehicle can be seen on the roadway crossing the tracks at the time the photo was taken. In the same 1941 photo, the Sycamore Street bridge shows up just to the east, and based on the shadow the overpass casts, one can clearly see it is a bridge. You may wish to clarify which location the entry is referring to since IL Route 160 used to follow Sycamore Street (1981 Highland Topo Map), but now it follows Poplar.
I live in Highland, so this bridge entry caught my eye. I am however, confused by the description given. The old highway underpass shown in "Streetview" is of the Sycamore Street underpass and I believe this is accurately described in the text. But, the recent K. Harvey photograph shows the Poplar Street/IL Route 160 grade crossing. The problem I have is the text appears to imply there was a plate girder bridge at this location as well. To satisfy my curiosity, I reviewed a 1941 aerial photograph and could plainly see it was an at-grade crossing at Poplar Street. In fact, a vehicle can be seen on the roadway crossing the tracks at the time the photo was taken. In the same 1941 photo, the Sycamore Street bridge shows up just to the east, and based on the shadow the overpass casts, one can clearly see it is a bridge. You may wish to clarify which location the entry is referring to since IL Route 160 used to follow Sycamore Street (1981 Highland Topo Map), but now it follows Poplar.