PRINCETON, Ill. — The Illinois Department of Transportation began temporary repair work Monday of the historic Red Covered Bridge in Princeton.
The bridge was hit by a semi-truck on Nov. 16 and the truck caused extensive damage.
"Most of the tresses on the north end of the bridge were all compromised and ripped out, so the roof basically collapsed and the walls on the north end started flaring out," said Princeton City Clerk Peter Nelson. "I was pretty much devastated. I got a sick feeling in my stomach and I just could not believe the extent of the damage and also the unfortunate circumstances of why it happened. It did not need to happen."
Paul Wappel, a spokesperson for IDOT, said crews are installing temporary supports.
"(It's) being done to ensure the existing damage to this structure doesn't worsen or create additional issues," he said in an email to News 8. "The supports will remain in place until permanent repairs can be made to the bridge, which will remain closed to vehicle and pedestrian traffic. The Department won't have any recommendations on permanent repairs or restoration measures until a full assessment of the bridge is completed, which will take several months."
Princeton city, Bureau county and state leaders, as well as community members, met Wednesday morning to get an update on the bridge.
"The message that I know I personally received from all of this was that the goal is restoration and then doing whatever we need to do to facilitate the road changes or signage changes to ensure this doesn't happen again," said Lex Poppens, the executive director of the Bureau County History Center.
The iconic Red Covered Bridge was constructed in 1863-64, according to the history center. They believe the first to have crossed it was a man named Joseph Bryan on his horse in April 1864.
It's reported that it was constructed by a committee appointed by the Bureau County Board. The county pitched in $1,000, Dover Township, where the bridge is located, paid $600 and area residents pitched in the remaining $1,548.57.
Illinois has only nine covered bridges recorded statewide, with two of them being in Princeton. Before the accident, the bridge was one of five covered bridges in Illinois that was still open to vehicular traffic.
"This is a staple and a focal point for our community and our area and who else can say that they have a 160-year-old bridge that's functional?" said Jenica Cole, the executive director of the Princeton Area Chamber of Commerce. "This bridge means a lot to a lot of people."
She is hopeful conversations are moving in a positive direction toward restoration.
"It's in our hearts and on our minds and we're all rallying to hope this bridge comes back to what it once was," she said.
Poppens said people from around the state have reached out offering to donate barn wood.
"The woods around here are where the bridge came from," he said. "We have an owner nearby who has trees of the same size that were used for this willing to donate those trees."
The cost of the repairs won't be known until IDOT can finish evaluating the condition of the bridge. The assumption, Nelson said, is that the driver's company, Wynn Logistics, and its insurance policy will be covering some if not all of the repairs.
A semi-truck previously crashed into the Red Covered Bridge in April 2021, but the damage wasn't to this extent. There was damage to the bridge's north end, and the bridge was closed until late August that year when repairs were made.
Reportedly, both drivers were following GPS navigation when they hit the bridge, despite there being signs warning of a five-ton weight limit and 11-foot, 10-inch height restriction.
Nelson said they want to look into whether the GPS route can be altered.
"We need to make sure the structure is safe from here on out and is not really subjected to these types of issues anymore," he said. "We're not sure if that means we need to restrict traffic on the bridge or if we just enhance our warnings prior to getting to the bridge. Certainly we need to restrict semi traffic from this bridge."
Traffic will remain closed on the bridge for the foreseeable future.
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