It’s been nearly four months since a truck has found itself wedged inside the infamous Long Grove covered bridge, but a local historian isn’t betting on that trend continuing.
The historic, and very well-reinforced symbol of Long Grove will almost certainly continue to scrape the tops off of trucks driven by distracted motorists while continuing to delight the community with its rural charm, he said.
The last such incident was in mid-December, when a Toys for Tots truck lodged itself halfway across the bridge. It’s a relatively regular occurrence for the community. The Long Grove Covered Bridge Accident Tracker Facebook page, which includes a counter of incidents, sits at 63.
Long Grove Historical Society historian Aaron Underwood said the incidents happen in bursts, usually after the bridge’s “local traffic” designation is lost during updates to navigation apps.
While the crashes keep the bridge in the news cycle, Underwood said the bridge is more than just the victim of distracted drivers.
“It’s the symbol of the town. It’s the town mascot,” he said.
The Robert Parker Coffin Bridge was originally built in 1906 across Buffalo Creek as a “less messy way” to get to the church, according to Underwood, replacing an old wooden bridge that had required lots of upkeep.
It wouldn’t gain its now iconic cover until the 1970s, which Underwood said was installed to protect the bridge both from weather and overly large vehicles. Although constructed out of metal, the bridge was only meant for horses and buggies, and underneath the wood cover it’s largely unchanged from the 1900s.
Eventually, the covered bridge would gain a reputation for being the victim of periodic vehicle strikes. They were frequent enough that a local merchant who owned a store nearby kept buckets of paint and some repair supplies handy at the back of his shop.
“He would just go out and replace a board if one got knocked loose, or throw some paint on if it got scratched up,” Underwood said.
A crash in 2018 proved far more damaging, however, with a truck nearly taking “the whole cover off,” Underwood said. The accident proved to be a blessing in disguise. There had already been discussion about restoring the bridge, which was showing its age, and the insurance settlement helped fund the work.
The Long Grove covered bridge a day after a truck smashed into the structure on June 28, 2018, just days after it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
“In some weird way, getting hit actually helped modernize it and do some rehab,” he said.
The strikes returned soon after the bridge was reopened. Village President Bill Jacob said they have “plenty” of warning signs installed around the bridge, but to no avail.
“When you hear the stories, you just sit there and you go, ‘Unbelievable,’” Jacob said. “You know — ‘I was in a hurry.’ ‘I was hungry.’ ‘I wanted to get to the other side.’ — Whatever it is, and they try to sneak through and, of course, they can’t.”
The downtown side of the bridge is also minutely taller than the church side, leading to some overconfident drivers lodging themselves on the other end. Underwood recalled watching one such incident.
“A truck will come up to it, and they will stop at the light. They’re looking at the signage and everything. Then they ease up to it, look out their window and see, ‘Am I going underneath it? Am I gonna make it?’ Which is silly because it says ‘No trucks,’” Underwood said.
“Then they think they’re good, and they try to get the rest of the way through it,” he continued. “So they get halfway through, and they grind to a halt as the top of their truck contacts the steel.”
Underwood said a common question officials hear is why the village doesn’t install a “headache bar” that trucks would strike before getting onto the bridge. Underwood argued there is no space to properly install it in a spot where a truck could then turn around.
That’s not to say there isn’t a steel bar causing headaches for truck drivers. When the bridge cover was rebuilt, a steel bar was installed along the top to absorb any impacts. It also means that despite the numerous crashes, the bridge has remained unharmed, aside from some cosmetic damage.
“The irony of the whole thing is that the bridge covers what’s getting struck, and it’s doing its job in keeping trucks off the bridge,” Jacob said. “It’s one of those things people like to talk about, but at the end of the day, it’s really no big deal because the bridge itself is being protected.”
While he feels the focus on the crashes misses some of the depth to the bridge’s history, Underwood said he understands the curiosity, even if it’s “unproductive.” But for him, the bridge is something “magical,” leaving behind suburbia and going through “this little time portal.”
“If you’ve never driven across it, it’s one of those things that’s sometimes hard to put into words,” he said. “When your car goes across it, you get that kind of clackity rumble going across those wooden beams, and then you emerge (and) you’re looking at all of these buildings that are all styles from a hundred-plus years ago.”
Jacob said the bridge is an element of the community’s history, and is important to preserve, drawing in tourists and bringing a charm and uniqueness to the town.
