New Salem State Historic Site
Box Culvert
- Location: Petersburg, Illinois
- Contractor: County Contractors, Inc.
- Size: Two 44 ft runs of 12 ft x 6 ft box culvert pieces
- Purpose: To provide a new bridge for a roadway at Lincoln’s New Salem State Historic Site.
About this Project
Deteriorating bridge supports and roadway at Lincoln’s New Salem State Historic Site caused the need for a brand new bridge to be installed. Last year, half of the bridge was closed off with traffic barrels at the entrance of the site because it was deemed too dangerous to navigate. After consultation with the Illinois Department of Transportation, it was decided that the entire structure needed to be replaced. County Contractors, Inc. handled the culvert and bridge construction on site. As for why CCI chose Wieser Concrete as the box culvert supplier, Chris Kaufmann from County Contractors weighed in. He said, “We have had several jobs with them (Wieser Concrete) and their level of service has always been impeccable.
Drew Wieser, General Manager at the Roxana, IL plant, and the team have always gone out of their way to meet the sometimes demanding construction schedule that is required by IDOT. Additionally, the products we get are of high quality, which makes it easier to put the precast sections together, saving us both time and money.” The large end sections and headwall design really set this project apart from a standard box culvert scheme. Each flared end section measured over 44 feet wide at the entry and exit. Also unique was that the headwalls were cast monolithic with the box and the elevation of the headwall sloped across the top of the two runs. The culvert consists of two 44 foot runs of 12×6 foot box pieces and totals 61 feet with the end sections. In order to help combat the heavy flooding in the area, bank work and dredging of the creek channel was done to widen the stream area for the flow. This project is part of a ten-year plan to address the heavy flooding concerns that they occasionally see in that area of the historic site.