I recently moved to a home fairly near this bridge. It is still in service for vehicular traffic as of June, 2008. The way the streets run now, Renwick Road heads west from Joliet toward the river and terminates at River Road; turning South on River Road for a few hundred feet, Renwick Road resumes westward over the bridge, and then turns northwest before resuming its original westward course, more or less aligned with the portion of the road on the east side of the river.
An earlier commenter stated that they hoped this bridge would be preserved if it is ever replaced. My understanding is that the Village of Plainfield hopes or hoped to extend Renwick directly west, bypassing this bridge and installing a new bridge over the river. This bridge would remain in place as a pedestrian bridge. There was a proposed plan for this on the Village of Plainfield website approximately at the time I moved here (November 2007) but I can't seem to locate it now. In order to directly connect Renwick Road, though, a handful of homes in the path of the proposed connection would have to be acquired and demolished.
Plaque is gone now. That's a shame.
Good for you Mr Travis. I visited this bridge earlier this year...in October...but got there as it was getting dark. I'm glad you got some good recent pictures for us. When I was there, this bridge was heavily traveled. Two SUVs got nose to nose on the one lane bridge. It is surrounded by fabulous luxury homes. The area has changed a lot since I grew up there in the '60s and '70s.
I Got some good pictures of the 135th street bridge in Lemont though. As you know, it is preserved next to the canal it once crossed.
Here's one picture I took when it was getting dark....more and better to follow from friend in the area soon I hope.
Just visited this bridge on Oct 20th 2007. It is indeed a one lane bridge. It was near sunset when I got there but it looked like it was in decent condition...possibly like it had recently been primer coated. This is a very heavily traveled road. It seems this area has become very popular with the expanding housing market of the greater Chicago area. The bridge is surrounded by VERY large and expensive homes. Like I said, it is very heavily traveled at times. I saw two cars go head to head on the one lane bridge. I hope that if they replace it with a larger bridge, that they preserve this one. A friend in the area will take pictures for us later.