Kickapoo Rail Trail - Possum Trot Bridge
Facts
- Overview
- Abandoned Deck girder bridge over Middle Fork Vermilion River on Kickapoo Rail Trail
- Location
- Vermilion County, Illinois
- Status
- Abandoned
- Future prospects
- Bridge is planned to become part of the 24.5 mile Urbana to Danville Kickapoo bike trail and be converted to a pedestrian bridge.
- History
- Built 1921 for the Peoria and Eastern Railroad, abandoned ca. 1990's
- Railroads
- - Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railway (CCC&StL; Big Four)
- Conrail (CR)
- New York Central Railroad (NYC)
- Penn Central Railroad (PC)
- Peoria & Eastern Railroad (P&E)
- Design
- Deck plate girder
- Dimensions
-
Length of largest span: 100.0 ft.
Total length: 1,280.0 ft.
Deck width: 10.0 ft.
- Also called
- Conrail - Possum Trot Bridge
NYC - Possum Trot Bridge (1921)
PC - Possum Trot Bridge
NYC - Possum Trot Bridge (1921)
Big Four - Possum Trot Bridge - Approximate latitude, longitude
- +40.11865, -87.72849 (decimal degrees)
40°07'07" N, 87°43'43" W (degrees°minutes'seconds") - Approximate UTM coordinates
- 16/437923/4441180 (zone/easting/northing)
- Quadrangle map:
- Danville SW
- Inventory number
- BH 43972 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Update Log
- March 1, 2021: Updated by Luke: Added trail name
- July 24, 2012: New photos from Jacob P. Bernard
- February 4, 2012: New photos from Jacob P. Bernard
- February 2, 2012: New photos from Jacob P. Bernard
- May 12, 2010: New photos from Jacob P. Bernard
- April 13, 2010: New Street View added by Craig Philpott
- April 13, 2010: New photos from Jacob P. Bernard
- February 6, 2010: New video from Jacob P. Bernard
- January 30, 2010: Added by Jacob P. Bernard
Related Bridges
- IB&W - Possum Trot Bridge (Predecessor)
- NYC - Possum Trot Bridge (1893) (Predecessor)
Sources
- Jacob P. Bernard
- Craig Philpott - craigphilpott63 [at] gmail [dot] com
- Mike Roegner
- Work could begin this year on rail-trail
- Luke
Comments
Photos taken of the bridge in March 2021. It is now open to pedestrian traffic.
Amazing job with the new decking and railing. Glad to see this wonderful old bridge be brought back into use!
was there 2-24-2021, boarded over for trail with railings
was there 2-24-2021, it is boarded over for trail with railing
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?
another photo from Cnty Rd 1180
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.
This page's URL is http://bridgehunter.com/il/vermilion/bh43972/
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.