By Nate Bloomquist

That wish might be granted soon if the state’s plans to replace the bridge are carried through.

The bridge, which turned 71-years-old last November has been a vital link between La Salle and Oglesby, or for IVCC students, a link from La Salle to classes.

In 1998, the state unveiled its plans for replacing the bridge. However, no definite date for destruction of the current bridge and construction of a new one were set. The tentative date for the process is 2002, but several details of the plan have yet to be ironed out. The new bridge will cost $15 million to construct and it will be higher, longer and wider than the old bridge. It will take three to four years to complete according to Illinois Department of Transportation engineers’ estimate.

The current span cost $550,000 to build in 1929 and the process took three years. The bridge was named after Harvey J. Shippingsport, an attorney and Civil War hero. He settled on the southeast bank of the Illinois River after the war and became the ‘minow mogul’ of the Illinois Valley after supplying bait for area fishermen.

But for now, mechanic marvel known as Shippingsport is linking barges and traffic alike in the Illinois Valley. Behind the machine, sits a man high atop the bridge making sure both modes of transportation move smoothly.

IVCC grad Charlie Pleskovitch is one of four bridge tenders who operate the lift span of the bridge.

"A lot of people are surprised when I tell them what I do," says Pleskovitch. "People don’t even know someone’s up there."

The bridge tender resides in a dilapidated green shack some 200 feet above the river. Pleskovitch says he likes to keep an eye on the cars below him, but admits the job is slow moving at times. It takes a barge approximately one hour to travel from Spring Valley to Shippingsport and only four or five boats pass through during a bridge tender’s eight-hour shift.

To pass the time, Pleskovitch lifts weights, reads and paints on canvas. He says no one has ever been stalled on the steel grated span that lifts when barges pass under, despite the rumors. However, the system that is used to lift that portion of the bridge has lifted state vehicles while the bridge was closed for construction.

The bridge uses only a pair of 50-horsepower engines to lift the 450-ton span. It uses mammoth cement blocks as counterweights in a pulley system to raise and lower the lift. The engines are only activated to start and stop the counterweights.

The 1,679-foot ‘steel lady’ as a former bridge tender called it, has a storied history. In 1948 two are killed in an accident in which a car careened over the bridge as the lift span was raised. One person survived the incident after a river rescue. This was before safety gates were installed outside the span.

In 1975, a semi slid off the bridge only to hang from it by its rear wheels. The driver of the truck, 20-year-old Bradley Nicholson of Tonica survived the accident with only bruises and returned to his job the next day.