Amazing job with the new decking and railing. Glad to see this wonderful old bridge be brought back into use!
Thanks,Luke.
Those belonged to an interurban bridge: https://bridgehunter.com/il/vermilion/bh58970/
While looking at this bridge from US150 on street view I noticed what looked like bases for piers in the river.Was there a bridge located where the bases are?
you can get to this P&E Railroad trestle really easy now on the Northeast side off Cnty. Rd 1180(road to stock car track), they are-have cleared the trees & weeds away for a rail to trail path. Went there April 17th, got some great photos, from the abutment. getting lower under trestle, really hard.
Here's a few pics of what's holding the bridge up. Notice the bracing on the crown of the piers. Also visible is one of several old abutments from an earlier bridge. I can't find any information about the previous bridge. The original bridge at this location was a Howe truss built in 1868 by the Indianapolis, Bloomington & Western Railroad. The bridge had timber approaches and cut stone abutments. No info though as to whether is was a deck or through truss, or if it was metal or wood construction.
Webmaster's note: The photos that were here have been incorporated into the main site.
Here's a photo with a train @ 1970. The bridge was built in 1921 for the Peoria & Eastern Railroad. Last user was Conrail. Current plans are to include the bridge in the Urbana to Danville Kickapoo Bike trail.
Webmaster's note: The photo that was here has been incorporated into the main site.
Now part of the Kickapoo Rail Trail, a 10-foot wide deck made of Ipe hardwood with 3 wider viewing platforms was completed in the fall of 2021 with official dedication spring of 2022.