As a kid growing up in central Illinois, Peter Nelson’s family had a Sunday ritual. He and his eight siblings packed into their dad’s station wagon and headed along Route 26 in Princeton, turning on a country road that would eventually take them to a park on the bank of Big Bureau Creek.

The highlight of those outings was always the drive across the Red Covered Bridge, its wooden planks creaking as the family wagon slowly traversed the 149-foot span.

“It was thrilling,” Nelson, 68, remembered. “I’m sure other families have that same ritual and memory.”

Indeed, the 160-year-old bridge is woven into the fabric of the community. Generations of children used to jump from gaps in its red-clad cedar siding for a swim on hot summer days, or ice skate in its shadow when the creek froze for the winter. Today, it serves as a backdrop for wedding and graduation photos. Its image is used to draw visitors to Princeton, population 7,800, and the surrounding county, 115 miles west of Chicago.

But the future of the local landmark — believed to be one of only five 19th century covered bridges left in Illinois — is uncertain. On Nov. 16, despite multiple signs warning against doing so, the driver of an 18-wheeler tried to cross the bridge, causing extensive damage to the structure.

“The community is positively devastated over this,” said Lex Poppens, executive director of the Bureau County History Center. It’s such an iconic part of this area.”

Added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975, the Red Covered Bridge has undergone several upgrades over the last three decades. But a fair portion dates to its construction in 1863.

Nelson, who serves as Princeton’s city clerk as well as the town’s planning and zoning administrator, said the truck destroyed several overhead support beams, which caused the roof to partially collapse at the northern end of the bridge. As a result, the walls at the northern end bow outward.

As the truck continued through the bridge, it crushed the northern facade. It also splintered into a half-dozen pieces the original sign hanging over the southern entry that warned visitors of a $5 fine for “driving more than twelve horses, mules or cattle at one time or for leading any beast faster than a walk on or across this bridge.”

The full extent of the damage is unknown. Engineers with the Illinois Department of Transportation, the agency responsible for maintaining the state-owned bridge, are still conducting a full inspection and structural evaluation. IDOT officials said it could be weeks or months before that process concludes and the agency can make recommendations on needed repairs or restoration work.

This isn’t the first time the bridge has been damaged by truck traffic.

In April 2021, a lost truck driver was rerouted by GPS to Red Covered Bridge Road, where he tried to pass through the bridge’s northern end. He stopped as soon as he heard his truck scraping against the wood, Nelson said, but not before he cracked the north facade and a few cedar panels.

In response, additional signs were erected on either side of the bridge that warn of its height and weight restrictions.

The driver who caused last month’s damage, identified by Illinois State Police as a 64-year-old woman from Alabama, told police that she missed her turn and was rerouted by GPS to the bridge, which is just north of an industrial park near Route 26 and Interstate 80.

State Police issued her a written warning, the agency said. She could not be reached for comment.

Photographs taken immediately after last week’s incident identify the trucking company as Wynn Logistics in Vernon Hills. According to KWQC and others, the company issued a statement calling the driver’s actions “reckless,” and saying “she will be terminated and we’ll make sure that companies who want to hire her will know about it.” The statement goes on to say the company would work with its insurance provider “to facilitate the restoration of the bridge to its original state.”

The company appears to have deleted its Facebook page, and a person who answered the phone last week declined to comment before hanging up on a Chicago Tribune reporter.

While IDOT engineers finish their inspection, Nelson and others question how to prevent further damage to the bridge.

One possible option would be to erect bars that stand just under 12 feet — the same height as the bridge’s clearance — over the roadway approaching both sides of the bridge. That way, if truck drivers clip the overhead bar, they’ll know not to continue through the bridge.

“They can restore the bridge, perhaps, but can you restore people using their heads when they’re approaching the bridge?” asked Nelson.

Similar conversations have taken place 130 miles northeast of Princeton, in Long Grove, where officials considered placing overhead bars near the Robert Parker Coffin Bridge. Built in 1906, the wooden cover was added in the 1970s in an attempt to keep trucks off the iron truss bridge, which has a 5-ton weight limit. In 2018, a box truck caused significant damage to that wooden cover. Since then, and despite multiple warning signs, its been struck dozens of times.

[ Learn more about the strange psychology behind the crashes at Long Grove’s covered bridge ]

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In Princeton, a more difficult discussion centers on whether the Red Covered Bridge should continue to be open to vehicle traffic. Of the state’s five remaining covered bridges built in the 19th century, the Red Covered Bridge is the only one people can still drive across.

“No one wants to see it be a park area with no traffic like the other covered bridges,” Nelson said. “But maybe that’s the reality to preserve the bridge?”

Meanwhile, residents in Princeton and the surrounding Bureau County are holding their collective breaths as they wait to learn whether their beloved bridge can be saved.

“I think the bridge has been such a part of so many people’s lives in this county,” said Poppens. “It’s such an iconic part of this area.”

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