These are notes that I am writing to help me learn our industrial history. They are my best understanding, but that does not mean they are a correct understanding.
Saturday, February 10, 2018
1936+2018 IL-104 Bridges over Illinois River at Meredosia, IL
Old: (Bridge Hunter,Historic Bridges, John A Weeks III, Satellite)
New: (Bridge Hunter, IDOT (I hope IDOT maintains the new bridge better than they are maintaining this web site. I saw a lot of broken link icons. And most DOT web sites would have contained a photo gallery of construction pictures, if not videos, when this much taxpayer money is being spent on a project.))
While researching a Wabash Railroad bridge, I discovered that I have missed an opportunity to photograph a cantilever-looking truss bridge. (According to Historic Bridges, it is a continuous truss bridge.) It has been replaced with a tied-arch bridge.
The city of Meredosia is famous as being one of the first cities in the United States to have a railroad line. The Northern Cross line started in 1838, and was one of the first 3 operating steam railroads in the US. There is a depot and caboose preserved as part of a small museum a few blocks south of IL-104. [John A Weeks III] John has another posting about an abandoned Wabash Railroad bridge.
An IDOT video of the truss bridge that also shows several coal barges docked at the coal plant. I don't know the date of the video, but the generating station was burning coal instead of natural gas as of that date.
Since the satellite views will be changing, I grabbed some images. In 2010, IDOT was still debating about building the bridge south of the town with a bypass for IL-104 around the town or keeping the highway in town. Obviously, they decided to keep IL-104 in the town. According to Google Earth, these images are from Aug, 2015.
They have erected a crane (upper-right corner) that is ready to walk across the access road when it is done. And they have driven the piles for a cofferdam near the bottom of the photo.
The city of Meredosia is famous as being one of the first cities in the United States to have a railroad line. The Northern Cross line started in 1838, and was one of the first 3 operating steam railroads in the US. There is a depot and caboose preserved as part of a small museum a few blocks south of IL-104. [John Weeks]
Lost Bridges of Pike County Illinois.... Wabash Railroad Bridge over the Illinois River at Morgan County IL and Pike County IL. The railroad bridge, completed in the 1861 (date is from the May 1861 Quincy Daily Herald), is now gone. In 1920 Wabash made plans to plank the railroad so that it could also be used as a wagon and automobile bridge. 5,000 people attended the opening of the newly planked bridge. The last train to pass over the Meredosia rail bridge was on January 28th 1955. When the new lift bridge was opened at Valley City in 1959 the bridge at Meredosia was dismantled. There is still one pier standing on the Meredosia side of the river. The Meredosia Bridge for automobile traffic opened in November 1936 and was demolished in August 2018.
The new Meredosia Bridge (Morgan County, Illinois and Pike County, Illinois) that will carry Illinois 104 traffic over the Illinois River from Meredosia (east approach) to Pike County (west approach). Construction of the bridge began in April 2015 with an opening date planned for this summer. The bridge is 2,127 feet long and 44 feet wide with a total of nine concrete piers. The half moon looking center span is 590 feet long and 118 feet tall allowing for a 55 foot clearance for river traffic below. Construction of the bridge is being done by Halverson Construction Co of Springfield, Illinois (Sangamon County) costing $75.1 million dollars. The existing Meredosia Bridge was built in 1936 at a cost of $530,000 and was dedicated by then Governor Henry Horner.
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