Cumberland County Covered Bridge
Canon PowerShot S95
2014
Here’s an oxymoron: “new covered bridge.” Yet here this one is. It was built in 2000 as a replica of an 1832 bridge that once stood here.
You’ll find it just west of Greenup, Illinois on the original alignment of US 40 and the National Road. It spans the Embarras (EM-ba-raw) River. That original covered bridge washed out in 1865. A steel replacement, I believe a Whipple truss, constructed in 1875 washed out in 1912. A girder bridge was completed in 1920 and served until flooding damaged a pier in 1996, rendering the bridge unsafe.
By this time, US 40 had long been rerouted around Greenup to the south. This crossing no longer carried a significant amount of traffic — 225 vehicles a day, at last count. The county got a grant to build this bridge as a tourist attraction.
If you’d like to get more of my photography in your inbox or reader, click here to subscribe.
Last updated on 18 March 2020 by Jim Grey
What a strange looking bridge! I’m wondering why it was covered in the first instance.
The trusses that bear the load are themselves wooden, and if left to the elements would deteriorate fairly quickly. The wooden cover protects the trusses. It is meant to be replaced from time to time when it rots.
Sooo, with the history of bridges at this location, are the locals taking bets on when this one will wash out?
I’ve had exactly the same thought.
Hopefully longer than it will take for the tax payers to forget they wasted money on building it.
That might be your best bridge picture of all. And that’s saying something!
Wow! I’m happy you like it. My favorite part about it is how I included in the frame the road trailing behind the bridge. I shot from this vantage point 3-4 times before I realized I could get that in, and then made this shot.
That definitely adds to it; you see it’s not just a bridge, but a road as well.
I must take a picture of my bridge this Summer. For some reason I never have before, so you’ve inspired me.
Yes, I own my own bridge. :D
Ahhhh, makes me think of th last covered bridge that I photographed in the Adirondacks years ago. I should dig out my old transparencies and scan and post them.
I’d enjoy seeing them!
So, they wasted tax payer money on a “new” covered bridge as a tourist attraction?
They got a grant. This is a little-traveled road segment (since US 40 was moved to bypass the town); this little town needs all the help it can get to attract tourists.