Illinois 17 Lacon Bridge Rehabilitation Project

The Lacon Bridge, which carries almost 7,000 daily vehicles on Illinois 17 over the Illinois River in Marshall County, connects Sparland and Lacon. Built in 1939, the bridge is one of the oldest crossings over the Illinois River and due for major scheduled maintenance and rehabilitation.

The 1,573-foot long, 29-foot-wide structure is a steel continuous through-truss bridge, which last received an upgrade in 1990, including superstructure replacement beams at the approach spans, floor beams at the main span and a new bridge deck. 

Construction is scheduled to break ground in March 2023. The improvements will extend the lifespan of the bridge, address inefficiencies, enhance performance with a smoother surface to provide a more comfortable ride and maintain the safety of the corridor for the traveling public for many years to come.

The project includes steel repair, bearing rehabilitation, joint replacement, bridge deck overlay, roadway and navigational lighting updates, drainage improvements, painting, and other related work.

The $10 million (estimated) project was made possible by Gov. JB Pritzker’s historic, bipartisan Rebuild Illinois capital program. Over the next six years, IDOT is planning to improve more than 2,500 miles of highway and nearly 10 million square feet of bridge deck as part of Rebuild Illinois, which is investing $33.2 billion into all modes of transportation. Accomplishments through Year Three of Rebuild Illinois include approximately $8.6 billion of improvements statewide on 4,422 miles of highway, 412 bridges, and 621 additional safety improvements.