Old Plank Road Trail Bridge: Before And After

NEW LENOX, IL -- The replacement of the bridge over Interstate 80 in New Lenox is complete. The Illinois Department of Transportation recently finished the project to build a new bridge over the Interstate and the old one has already been torn down.

The new bridge is a 227-foot bow truss bridge installed in two phases this spring, according to a news release from the Forest Preserve District of Will County. It replaced the old bridge, which was built in 1964.

The bridge connects a western portion of the Old Plank Road Trail, which opened as a 12-mile path in 1997. Recent additions and connections with other paths has the trail now at 22 miles long, spanning from New Lenox in the west to Chicago Heights in the east.

“The OPRT was our first regional trail, our first rail-to-trail conversion and our first project funded with federal transportation funding,” said Ralph Schultz, chief operating officer for the Forest Preserve District of Will County.