Repairs are underway on the Red Covered Bridge north of Princeton, the 163-year-old Bureau County span that has been closed since a truck hit it in 2023.
The Illinois Department of Transportation describes a $1.25 million project in two phases and anticipates finishing all of the work by June 2027, according to IDOT. The job is meant to keep the historic structure standing and make the crossing safer for motorists.
What the First Phase Replaces
The opening phase is the carpentry and steel that a covered bridge cannot do without. Shaw Local reported that it includes replacement of the roof, roof cross bracing, damaged roof cross bracing rods, floor beams, siding and existing signs.
On Oct. 27, that same reporting still had the work beginning soon. By Nov. 9, Shaw Local reported, crews were on preliminary repairs at the bridge. IDOT now says the project is underway.
That sequence does not pin down when each piece of phase one will be finished. What is scheduled is a second, shorter shutdown later.
A Warning System for a Low Bridge
Phase two is planned around the problem that put the bridge out of service. Shaw Local said it would add a vehicle-height detection system that turns on flashing lights to warn truck drivers before they reach the span. Clearance is 10 feet, 11 inches.
IDOT says the bridge will briefly close again in 2027 so that phase can be finished, with all work anticipated to be done by June 2027. A completion date for the construction is not the same thing as a posted reopening.
The height system is the practical sequel to two recent strikes. Signs have not been enough. The plan is to tell an over-height driver, with lights, before the roof does.
Two Truck Strikes in Three Years
On the morning of Nov. 16, 2023, a semitrailer driver tried to pass through the bridge. Shaw Local reported heavy damage to both the structure and the truck. IDOT says the bridge has been closed since that strike.
It had already been through a version of this. The same account said a semi damaged the bridge in April 2021 and that those repairs were finished that August. The 2023 hit closed a 149-foot bridge that had only recently been put back together.
When the bridge was open, IDOT says, it carried an average of 275 vehicles a day. That is a modest count for a state route, and still enough daily chances for a truck to miss a 10-foot, 11-inch limit.
The Only State-Owned Covered Bridge Still in Service
Built in 1863, the Red Covered Bridge is, in IDOT's description, the only state-owned covered bridge still open to traffic. The department is using that status for a bridge that has in fact been shut since the 2023 crash. The distinction is between a bridge that remains a traffic structure and one preserved only as a relic.
IDOT also says the bridge is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and protected under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966. The repair list tracks that status: roof, bracing, siding and signs, not a replacement span.
The Princeton job sits inside a much larger IDOT program. Through Rebuild Illinois, Shaw Local reported, the department is planning to improve 7,107 lane miles of highway and 8.4 million square feet of bridge deck over six years. One 149-foot covered bridge will not move those totals. It is the piece drivers north of Princeton have been detouring around since 2023.
The next dated step IDOT has put on the calendar is the brief 2027 closure to finish phase two, with the full repair anticipated by June 2027.
