Rating:
5 votes

Airtight Bridge

Coles County, Illinois

Photos 

East portal

Photo taken by Robert Stephenson in September 2007

Enlarge

BH Photo #115510

Map 

Facts 

Overview
Through truss bridge over Embarras River on TR 275, northeast of Charleston, 3 mi. northwest of Ashmore
Location
Coles County, Illinois
Status
Open to traffic
History
Built 1914 by the Decatur Bridge Co.; rehabilitated 2010
Builders
- Claude L. James
- Decatur Bridge Co. of Decatur, Illinois
Design
Pratt through truss
Dimensions
Length of largest span: 139.7 ft.
Total length: 189.5 ft.
Deck width: 15.4 ft.
Vertical clearance above deck: 13.2 ft.
Recognition
Posted to the National Register of Historic Places on November 30, 1981
Approximate latitude, longitude
+39.55504, -88.08948   (decimal degrees)
39°33'18" N, 88°05'22" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates
16/406400/4378939 (zone/easting/northing)
Quadrangle map:
Ashmore
Average daily traffic (as of 2009)
50
Inventory numbers
IL 015-3165 (Illinois bridge number)
NRHP 81000211 (National Register of Historic Places reference number)
BH 15081 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Inspection report (as of January 2018)
Overall condition: Poor
Superstructure condition rating: Poor (4 out of 9)
Substructure condition rating: Fair (5 out of 9)
Deck condition rating: Good (7 out of 9)
Sufficiency rating: 17.3 (out of 100)
View more at BridgeReports.com

Categories 

Built 1914 (786)
Built during 1910s (9,425)
Claude L. James (1)
Coles County, Illinois (34)
Decatur Bridge Co. (25)
Embarras River (Illinois) (16)
Illinois (4,529)
NR-listed (2,895)
One-lane traffic (7,548)
Open (38,857)
 Owned by township (2,524)
Pin-connected (3,806)
Pratt through truss (5,161)
Pratt truss (8,961)
Span length 125-175 feet (4,111)
Structurally deficient (15,315)
Sufficiency rating zero (250)
Through truss (14,439)
Total length 175-250 feet (4,155)
Truss (31,790)

Update Log 

  • August 4, 2016: New photos from David Huffman
  • July 24, 2016: New photos from David Huffman
  • February 1, 2013: Updated by Luke Harden: Added architect.
  • April 30, 2010: Updated by Robert Stephenson: Future Prospects
  • April 17, 2010: New photos from Robert Stephenson
  • March 13, 2010: New photos from Robert Stephenson
  • February 9, 2009: Updated by Robert Stephenson: Status
  • October 16, 2008: Updated by Robert Stephenson: Changed GPS coordinates
  • June 22, 2008: Despite what Google shows, the actual name is Airtight Bridge
  • June 20, 2008: Updated by Max Johnson: Corrected name from "Airtight" to "Airfight"
  • June 20, 2008: New photo from Robert Stephenson

Sources 

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Comments 

Airtight Bridge
Posted March 4, 2017, by David Huffman (davhuffm [at] mindspring [dot] com)

The infamous unsolved murder at this bridge may have been solved.

I was ten when the woman's body was discovered and living in nearby Charleston.

http://jg-tc.com/news/local/arrest-announced-in-airtight-bri...

Airtight Bridge
Posted March 14, 2010, by Anthony Dillon (spansaver [at] hotmail [dot] com)

Glad to see the old girl getting some love. Hopefully a new paint job is in the works as well.

Airtight Bridge
Posted March 2, 2010, by Robert Stephenson (seinfeld99 [at] yahoo [dot] com)

Airtight Bridge to go retro with wood deck

http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_action=doc&p_...

Airfight Bridge
Posted June 20, 2008, by Robert Stephenson (seinfeld99 [at] yahoo [dot] com)

The Google map does have the road named wrong, also The Airtight bridge was added to the National Register of Historical places in 1981.

http://www.nationalregisterofhistoricplaces.com/IL/Coles/sta...

Airtight Bridge
Posted June 20, 2008, by CJ (susorcar [at] yahoo [dot] com)

From the Google map, looks like the name of the road is "Airfight", not Airtight. Just thought I'd mention it.