Lost Bridges over Illinois River in Pekin, IL

The PTC(Rock Island) Bridge now has its own posting.

The SPV Map indicates there were two railroad bridges in Pekin that are now abandoned. The northern one is labeled Santa Fe on the east side of the river and PPU on the west side. The southern route is labeled CR (P&E) on the east side and PTC on the west side. I have been unable to reconcile that information with Bridge Hunter and the 1939 aerial photo below. The northern bridge is the PTC swing railroad bridge. The southern bridge is a lift road bridge.

1939 Aerial Photo from ILHAP

Update: The confusion seems to be caused by time. There was a PPU bridge here, but it was removed before 1900. The PTC (Rock Island) bridge was built in 1900. And Bridge Hunter has confused the PTC bridge as the PPU bridge.

PPU - Pekin Bridge

Posted September 15, 2015, by William Weiss (dswrw [at] yahoo [dot] com)

There have been SIX bridges crossing the IL River at Pekin in this order:

1. Wagon Bridge (no remnants whatsoever left)

2. P&PU Railroad Bridge (stone structure directly next to small bridge going to Pekin Boat Club Island is only remaining evidence of this first RR bridge..it is in great condition considering P&PU removed that bridge before 1900. It currently supports the Pekin Boat Club sign)

3. Illinois Terminal Railroad swing bridge [PTC Bridge] (abutment from bridge remains under current Pekin Bridge) Bridge removed in 1975

4. Pekin Lift Bridge 1929 (replaced in 1980, no remnants whatsoever left)

5. Current Pekin Bridge Shade-Lohman [actually, it is the John T. McNaughton Bridge. The Shade-Lohman Bridge is the I-474 bridge that is further upstream.]

6. Vertical-Lift bridge (Currently Union Pacific Railroad) 3-miles south of all other bridges.

[Bridge Hunter comment]

This appears to be bridge #4 in the above list and the southern bridge in the 1939 aerial.

Brandy Hyatt posted
Old draw bridge from my hometown in il. Demolished late 1970's

To add to the confusion, a 1960 topo map labels the railroad bridge as Peoria & Pekin Union. But that was the PTC Bridge. The P&PU went North along the east side of the Illinois River. [Page 128A of Richard C. Carpenter's book A railroad Atlas of the United States in 1946, Vol 4 confirms that the bridge was PTC.]

Even though it is a UCEB (Ugly Concrete Eyesore Bridge), I include a view for completeness.

Street View, Aug 2022