Airtight Bridge

Airtight Bridge
Airtight Bridge
Coordinates	39°33′18″N 88°05′22″W / 39.55500°N 88.08944°W
Carries	Township road 275
Crosses	Embarras River
Locale	8 miles NE of Charleston, Illinois
ID number	3165
Characteristics
Design	Pratt through truss
Total length	188 feet 4 inches
Width	15 feet 7 inches
Clearance above	13 feet 7 inches
History
Opened	1914
Location

	Airtight Bridge
	U.S. National Register of Historic Places
	Eastern portal
Nearest city	Charleston, IL
Coordinates	39°32′56.75″N 88°5′35.75″W / 39.5490972°N 88.0932639°W
Built	1914
Architect	Claude L. James
MPS	Coles County Highway Bridges Over the Embarras River TR
NRHP reference No.	81000211
Added to NRHP	November 30, 1981

The Airtight Bridge is a steel bridge spanning the Embarras River in Coles County, Illinois, in the United States 8 miles (13 km) north of Charleston, Illinois. The bridge is a Pratt through truss bridge with a steel structure, a wooden deck, and concrete piers. The bridge was built in 1914 by the Decatur Bridge Company and designed by engineer Claude L. James.^[2] It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1981.^[1] It reportedly got its name from the unnatural stillness encountered when crossing it.

In 1980, a dismembered corpse was found on the east bank of the river 30 yards downstream from the bridge, causing quite a stir in the local media. Police investigated for years, but were unable to determine the identity of the victim until 1992, when DNA testing produced a match to a missing person from Kankakee, Illinois. The murder is now in the cold case file of the Illinois State Police.^[3]

Notes

^ ^a ^b "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. January 23, 2007.
^ "Bridge Inventory Form: Airtight Bridge" (PDF). Illinois Historic Preservation Agency. Retrieved December 18, 2013.
^ Clark, Bonnie (December 5, 2008). "Airtight Bridge murder victim honored by daughter who barely knew her". Journal Gazette & Times-Courier. Retrieved December 18, 2013.

External links

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[nris-1] "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. January 23, 2007.

[2] "Bridge Inventory Form: Airtight Bridge" (PDF). Illinois Historic Preservation Agency. Retrieved December 18, 2013.

[3] Clark, Bonnie (December 5, 2008). "Airtight Bridge murder victim honored by daughter who barely knew her". Journal Gazette & Times-Courier. Retrieved December 18, 2013.

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