Facts
Note: The following information comes from the National Bridge Inventory and has not been verified.
- Overview
- Lost bridge over Bay Creek on Bay City Road (FAS 1930), 3.5 mi. north of Bay City
- Location
- Pope County, Illinois
- Status
- Replaced by a new bridge
- History
- Replaced 1963
- Design
- Unknown
- Approximate latitude, longitude
- +37.27213, -88.52233 (decimal degrees)
37°16'20" N, 88°31'20" W (degrees°minutes'seconds")
- Approximate UTM coordinates
- 16/365028/4126147 (zone/easting/northing)
- Quadrangle map:
- Brownfield
- Land survey
- T. 14 S., R. 6 E., Sec. 26
- Average daily traffic (as of 2013)
- 325
- Inventory numbers
- IL 076-3002 (Illinois bridge number)
BH 15620 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
- Inspection report (as of September 2015)
- Overall condition: Good
Superstructure condition rating: Good (7 out of 9)
Substructure condition rating: Good (7 out of 9)
Deck condition rating: Good (7 out of 9)
Sufficiency rating: 80.2 (out of 100)
View more at BridgeReports.com
I remember when this bridge was still standing. We used to fish Bay Creek when I was younger, and I always liked going under it. From what I remember, it was a through truss bridge (based on pictures of other bridges I've seen on here), with large cut stone block abutments (with the rounded-face style of block), and the deck was gone. It was mostly intact at that time, only a portion of the deck frame had been removed for boaters when the water level was too high to go under the bridge normally. The last time I was there the bridge had been completely removed, including the cut stone, and the approach has been flattened to creek level for use as a boat ramp. The "newer" bridge doesn't have nearly the character, unfortunately... It's the common highway brige.
There is (was?) a similar bridge nearby, closer to Bay City, over Barren Creek which had been bypassed as well. I haven't been that way in years, so I can't say if it still exists or not.