Victory Bridge

Notes:

This bridge was built as a WWI memorial following a statue being erected at the corner of Main and Gilbert Street near the north approach as seen in picture #3. It was 1,037 feet long and 75 feet tall from the river. By the late 1930’s and early 40’s, the heavy traffic from the Dixie Highway on Gilbert Street and the bridge was starting to become a problem. The bridge had a 15 ton weight limit, but was carrying loads of 35 40 tons. It was finally replaced in 1957 with the modern “Memorial Bridge”. One of the first large municipal war memorials in the country is the new Victory bridge over the Vermilion river at Danville, and its construction is in the hands of Illinois men. Lorado Taft, ’79, designed the memorial plaza at the north approach and R. A. Skoglund, ’20, is in charge of the landscape work. The contractor for the bridge is O. K. Yeager, ’11, and Harlan H. Edwards, ’17, city engineer of Danville, is in charge of the entire project. The bridge, which will cost $400,000, makes a handsome northern terminus for the Danville St. Louis highway. It is a six span reinforced concrete arch highway viaduct, 75 feet above the river, the longest span being 195 feet. Three short approach spans are at each end. There is a 30 foot roadway and two walks. >a href=”https://bridgehunter.com/il/vermilion/victory-memorial/” target=”_blank”>see