On cold and shining Saturday, we took a road trip to an unincorporated community Bolivia near Springfield Illinois to explore the Bolivia Road Bridge and surrounding area.

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The Bolivia Road Bridge is a truss bridge near Bolivia Illinois, which formerly carried Bolivia Road across the Sangamon River. Plans to build the bridge started in 1900, when Lanesville Township’s highway commissioner petitioned Sangamon County for funding for a bridge. Funding on the bridge ultimately came from a joint effort by Lanesville Township, Sangamon County, Christian County, and Christian County’s Mount Auburn Township, as the latter two areas were connected to Sangamon County by the bridge. J.T. Garrett of St Louis, Missouri built the bridge in 1901. A 1994 state bridge survey identified the bridge as one of seven remaining Parker through truss bridges in Illinois, one of which has since been demolished. The bridge was added to the National Register of Historic Places on January 28, 2004. The bridge was listed on Landmarks Illinois’ Ten Most Endangered Historic Places list in 2011. In the spring of 2015 the bridge was permanently closed.