Located in the town of Fairbury, this large girder bridge crosses the Little Blue River just below the dam.
Originally built in 1904, likely to replace a truss, the bridge was upgraded around 1920. Originally, the bridge featured three large through plate girder spans, with a single span of smaller through girder on either end of the main spans. In addition, the bridge was approached by deck girder spans on either end.
During the ca. 1920 upgrade, the two eastern deck girders were replaced with two new deck girder spans. The west approach appears to be original to 1904.
The bridge sits on a combination of stone and concrete substructures. Judging by historic photos, the west abutment, pier #2, #4, #6 and #7 are all constructed of stone, while the east abutment, pier #1, #3 and #5 are all constructed of concrete. Pier #2 and #4 have since been encased in concrete.
One unique feature of this bridge is the size of the through plate girder spans. At 95 feet long, these are some very heavily constructed spans.
The belief that the spans were upgraded around 1920 stems from several other bridges along this route, particularly around the DeWitt area. Those bridges were replaced with similar deck girder spans in 1924.
In the current configuration, the bridge consists of (from west to east):
1-50' Deck Plate Girder
1-55' Through Plate Girder
3-95' Through Plate Girders
1-55' Through Plate Girder
2-44' Deck Plate Girders
Historic photo of this bridge, Ca. 1905
After the bridge was abandoned, it sat disused for many years. In 2006, the bridge was rebuilt and opened to pedestrian traffic.
This area on the Little Blue River is unique. Due to the dam just upstream, as well as a large bend in the river, large sandbars collect downstream from the bridge.
Overall, the bridge appears to be in good condition, with little notable deterioration. The author would like to know more about the upgrades to the east approach of this bridge.
The author has ranked this bridge as being moderately significant, due to the large design.
The photo above is an overview, looking east along the bridge.