1922-54 Abandoned US-51 Bridge over Ramsey Creek near Ramsey, IL

(Archived Bridge Hunter; Bridge Hunter; Historic Bridges; Satellite)

Street View, Apr 2018

Event Horizon Photography posted 12 photos with the comment:

Hidden alongside modern U.S. Route 51 north of Vandalia stands a piece of highway history that has been left largely untouched for more than 70 years. The Old U.S. 51 Ramsey Creek Bridge was built in 1924, two years before the U.S. Highway System was officially established. The bridge is a riveted, five-panel Pratt through-truss, with a 100-foot steel main span and concrete approach spans bringing its total length to roughly 300 feet. One of its more unusual features is still visible today: the brick railings incorporated into the concrete approaches. 

When U.S. 51 was designated in 1926, this stretch became part of the highway carrying travelers north and south through central Illinois. For the next three decades, cars and trucks crossed Ramsey Creek through this narrow steel truss. In 1954, U.S. 51 was realigned and a new bridge was constructed immediately to the east. Rather than removing the old bridge, the original roadway and bridge were simply bypassed and abandoned. 

Today, the old pavement is cracked and disappearing beneath grass and brush, the steel has turned deep red with rust, and trees have begun reclaiming a road that once carried one of Illinois’ major highways. Yet the bridge itself remains standing 102 years after it was built. What makes this place especially interesting is that it isn’t a replica or a restored attraction. It’s an actual surviving section of the old highway, essentially frozen in place after traffic moved a few yards away in 1954. For more than seven decades, thousands of motorists have driven past it on U.S. 51 without realizing the road their predecessors traveled is still sitting right beside them.

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HistoricBridges also notes the brick railings.

2017 photo by Steve Conro via BridgeHunter