Preservation of historic bridges isn't popular
Twenty-two bridges are listed as historic by transportation officials in the expanded Quad-City region.
But representatives of historic preservation organizations might be hard-pressed to give a location for any of those bridges in Clinton, Muscatine and Scott counties in Iowa and in Henry, Rock Island and Whiteside counties in Illinois, or say why they are significant to the area’s development or heritage.
“We have nothing to do with the rest of the county. There are no real bridges here,” said Larry Lock of the Kewanee Historic Society in Henry County, directing an inquiry to other organizations he said he thought might have some interest in old bridges.
The Illinois Department of Transportation, or DOT, lists six historic bridges in Henry County on its inventory of historic spans. They were opened in years ranging from 1890 to 1933. All but two have a sufficiency rating of less than 50, which means that, according to federal standards, they should be replaced.
Don Dethmann, vice president of the Clinton County Historical Society, said his group has compiled no information on whether there are historic bridges in the area.
“We plan to look into it,” he said.
In fact, Clinton County has 14 historic bridges. The Iowa DOT lists only one, across Ames Creek at 300th Avenue, but a Web site called bridgehunter.com said there are 13 more that are eligible for historic status. Their opening dates range from 1912 to 1974.
The Rock Island County Historical Society keeps archives on the county’s historic structures, such as the Government Bridge between Arsenal Island and Davenport, said Joyce Hanna, a volunteer for the group. But she was unaware of any efforts by the organization to preserve the county’s historic bridges.
“The federal government keeps it in tip-top shape, so we’re not too concerned about it,” Hanna said of the swing span bridge with a deck for railroad traffic on top of the vehicle-carrying deck.
The Illinois DOT says there are seven historic bridges in Rock Island County, including the Government Bridge. In an
e-mail to the Quad-City Times, Eric Cramer, Arsenal garrison public affairs officer, said $28 million has been spent over the past 7 years to maintain the bridge.
“Although the Government Bridge was not designed (to) bear modern loads, it is structurally sound and safe for daily use,” Cramer said.
While it has a low sufficiency rating, 36.2 on a scale in which 100 is the best, based on a Federal Highway Administration calculation using inspection data, Cramer said it is in “fair” condition. It is used by 10,000 vehicles per day, down from 20,000 per day in past years.
In 1987, most states began keeping inventories of historic bridges under the direction of the Federal Highway Administration, according to a 2004 report on the state of historic bridges and efforts to preserve them by the SRI Foundation, a nonprofit historic preservation group based in Rio Rancho, N.M.
Despite the effort to identify historic spans, less than 28 percent of such bridges across the country that are eligible for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places have been nominated, according to a questionnaire filed by state transportation agencies. Few states have historic bridge management plans in place.
“Statistics suggest that half, if not more, of our nation’s historic bridges have been lost in the last 20 years, two decades in which transportation and preservation consciousness was at a high level,” the report says. “This is an alarming and sobering statistic. While we are not quite at the threshold of saving ‘the few surviving examples,’ we are fast approaching that point.”
Historic bridges tell just as much about a community, its development and its heritage as old homes, churches or other structures, said Kitty Henderson, executive director of the Austin, Texas-based Historic Bridges Foundation, dedicated to preserving historic spans.
“In the Midwest, they illustrate expansion and economic development, and they are among the most visible icons of highways and civil engineering arts,” Henderson said.
However, all but the most unique designs often fail to fit into the planning of state transportation departments or local road and highway agencies. They view safe and efficient transportation as their primary missions and show little interest in preservation, Henderson said.
Most historic bridges are simply too narrow for today’s traffic, Henderson said. They have low weight limits that are unable to accommodate commerce effectively, and there is little federal or state money to preserve or move them to new locations where they could be kept intact.
“A lot depends on state departments of transportation,” Henderson said. “Every state is supposed to have an inventory of historic bridges, so they know what they have. They can submit them to the National Register, but they don’t have to. If they don’t, then bridges can be hard to preserve. The departments aren’t really required to do anything.”
In Iowa, the state, cities and counties are responsible for the maintenance and condition of the bridges that they own, said Judy McDonald, cultural resources manager for the Iowa Department of Transportation. When the condition of a structure becomes “precarious,” it is up to the owner to decide whether an effort should be made to rehabilitate a historic bridge or replace it.
Money is available through the state for bridge preservation, but once applied for, a structure becomes ineligible for all future state and federal money, McDonald said. Counties and cities can also use money they would normally have spent on demolition for preservation, “but normally it is not nearly enough.”
McDonald acknowledges that a number of Iowa’s historic spans have been lost since the state agency began keeping its inventory, but “there is no count on how many have been lost.”
In Illinois, the focus is primarily on bridges at least 50 years old on the state’s primary highway system, said John Wegmeyer, a project implementation engineer for the Illinois DOT based in Dixon. As with any other transportation issue, preservation is a function of the money available to accomplish it.
If a bridge is to be kept in the Illinois system, whether or not it is historic, Wegmeyer said, efforts are made to keep it in good condition to avoid having to post weight limits or other driving restrictions that would make it less useful.
“If it is a bridge in the secondary road system, it is just considered old and not considered historic,” he said of the farm-to-market system where deteriorating bridges are simply fixed or replaced.
Tom Saul can be contacted at (563) 383-2453 or tsaul@qctimes.com.
List of historic bridges
The Iowa and Illinois departments of transportation keep lists of historic bridges in their states. The architecture and location of spans can illustrate important developments in the life of a community. To be considered historic, a bridge must be at least 50 years old. The following are lists of historic bridges in the Iowa and Illinois Quad-Cities region.
Clinton County, Iowa
Ames Creek Bridge, built in 1912, at 300th Avenue over Ames Creek
Muscatine County, Iowa
Pine Mill Bridge, built in 1878, over Pine Creek in Wild Cat Den State Park
120th Street Bridge, built in 1937, at 120th Street over unnamed stream
Big Slough Creek Bridge, built in 1937, at Bancroft Avenue over Slough Creek
Scott County, Iowa
Iowa-Illinois Memorial Bridge, built in 1936, at Interstate 74 over the Mississippi River
Scott County Centennial Bridge, built in 1940, at U.S. 67 over the Mississippi River
Henry County, Ill.
Big Slough Ditch Bridge, built in 1909, at Big Slough Ditch on Township Road 228
Drainage Ditch Bridge, built in 1920, at drainage ditch and Township Road 109
Ulah Road Bridge, built in 1933, at Ulah Road over the Edwards River
Mosquito Creek Bridge, built in 1938, at Mosquito Creek on Township Road 34
Branch of Oat Creek Bridge, built in 1890, at Branch of Oat Creek and Township Road 270
Hennepin Canal Bridge, built in 1904, at Hennepin Canal (pedestrians only)
Rock Island County, Ill.
Mill Creek Bridge, built in 1932, at Ill. 5 and Mill Creek
Iowa-Illinois Memorial Bridge, built in 1936, over the Mississippi River at Interstate 74
Government Bridge, built in 1895, at Arsenal Island Road over the Mississippi River
Centennial Bridge, built in 1940, Over the Mississippi River at U.S. 67
Watt Bridge, built in 1870, at Heck Creek (closed to traffic)
Unnamed bridge, built 1881, at an abandoned roadway across a former swamp
Whiteside County, Ill.
U.S. 30 Bridge, built in 1956, at U.S. 30 over the Mississippi River
Rail road bridge, built in 1910, at Chase Road and the Chicago & Northwestern rail road track
Source: Iowa DOT, Illinois DOT