Townline Road remains closed indefinitely after accident

TREMONT, Ill. (WMBD) – A large truck drove into a railing on the Townline Bridge between Miller Road and Levy Road in Tremont on Friday, destroying part of it.

The Tazewell Road Authority arrived on the scene shortly thereafter and posted a temporary guard.

Civil engineer Dan Parr said they would do everything they could to reopen the bridge.

“We’re in the process of designing a replacement,” he said. “So we’re going to try to expedite that and get the bridge open to a somewhat acceptable flow of traffic and then expedite the replacement in the long term.”

Parr said they are taking steps to figure out what to do next with the bridge.

“We are in the process of evaluating the damage that has been done so that we can decide whether we should try to reuse the road surface and temporarily open it to one lane or whether we need to set up a more permanent detour,” he said.

Parr also explained that there were already plans in place to rebuild the bridge and that the accident has accelerated those plans. The department repairs two to four bridges a year.

The bridge could be opened in December at the earliest and subject to temporary measures.