Industrial History: 1874,1929,2003 IL-251 Shippingsport Bridges over Illinois River at LaSalle, IL

Saturday, January 18, 2020

1874,1929,2003 IL-251 Shippingsport Bridges over Illinois River at LaSalle, IL

1874 swing bridge: (Bridge Hunter)
1929 lift bridge: (Bridge Hunter; no Historic Bridges; HAER)
2003 steel girder: (John Weeks III; 3D Satellite)

The 1874 and 1929 bridges used to carry US-51. After the US-51 bypass was built between Peru and LaSalle in 1958 with its cantilever bridge, this road became Business-51. When I-39 was built across the river with the Abraham Lincoln Memorial Bridge in 1987, the cantilever bridge became IL-251 and this crossing became IL-351. As we have grown to expect with IDOT, they let the truss bridge deteriorate until it needed to be closed. IDOT was not planning on replacing it, but the local communities caused that decision to be reversed. They did close the crossing "for 2 years from late 2001 to October 29, 2003. That was 1 year shorter than planned due to the bridge being built much faster than was expected." [JohnWeeks]

Art Kistler, IDOT, Public Domain
[The 1874 swing span is in the foreground, and the 1929 lift span is in the background.]

Postcard, Public Domain
[The 1874 bridge is in the lower-right corner.]

Art Kistler, IDOT, Public Domain
Shippigsport Bridge, 1941, with CB&Q with lift span & ICRR with truss span in the background
CB&Q 1914 swing span replaced by lift span ca. 1932
ICRR swing span replaced with truss span ca. 1932
[Given the dates, the swing spans were probably replaced with lift spans as part of the 9-foot channelization of the Illinois River that opened in 1933. The cost of supporting barge traffic on the Illinois River was not only the locks and dams, it was also the replacement of a lot of the bridges. The 9-foot channel project was also the reason for the 1929 Shippingsport lift bridge.]

Andy Zukowski posted
70 Years ago today [Aug 28, 2024] Route 351 officially opened as it connected LaSalle to Shippingsport Bridge

Gene Smania comment on Bridge Hunter

Public Domain
Downstream profile, lift span raised, July 2001 prior to demolition

At least someone, in addition to HAER, took quite a few photos before IDOT destroyed the bridge and those photos have been uploaded to Bridge Hunter. The photo below is of note because it shows that the cables are just for connecting the counterweights to the span. In older lift bridges, the cables went to the machine house and were also used to lift and lower the span.

Public Domain
Rack and pinion final drive to lift the span, same setup at each tower, July 2001

Michael Nieslawski posted two photos with the comment: "Shippingsport Bridge in LaSalle before Removal - Was always fun getting caught on it when it lifted. Remembered getting out of the car to watch the Barge pass. You could feel the Bridge shake a little as Bridge went up and down. Bet Bridge Tender drank lots of Coffee?"
Marcos Cervantes shared.

John Sawicki posted

Dusty Johnson: Is this shippingsport? For some reason doesn’t look like. Maybe early picture.

Jim Hegland: Dusty Johnson they put all that rigging around it cuz they had to redo the the shifts on the top or the cables pull the concrete up.

Ron Bukovic: I tried to race the gates coming down one time...figuring it takes 5-10 seconds after the lights start flashing until the gates come down! I didn't quite make it and rode the center section up! The middle really shook going up and down compared to the rest of the bridge! Lol

Tim Ksiazkiewicz commented on John's post

John A. Weeks III

John Weeks explains that this bridge used a newly developed high-performance steel that allows for thinner girders that could carry longer spans. The truss in the background is the former-IC RR bridge and the blue steel arch is the I-39 Bridge.