See that bridge down there? It's been hit 40 times in the past few years. Love the quote below..."amazing." Yes that that the village continues to be surprised and continues to fix the stupid thing. How about raising it or just quit complaining and sell crash videos?
Long Grove’s covered bridge has new name, same crash concerns; ‘It’s just amazing that people continue to do it’
By Karie Angell Luc
Lake County News-Sun
Sep 23, 2022 at 11:33 am
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Long Grove Village President Bill Jacob cuts the ribbon to official dedicate the bridge. Images from the Long Grove Dedication Ceremony on Sept. 22, 2022 in downtown Long Grove. (Karie Angell Luc / Pioneer Press)
The iconic and often-crashed-into covered bridge in downtown Long Grove has a new name — the Robert Parker Coffin Bridge.
The newly named bridge was dedicated in an outdoor Long Grove ceremony Thursday that included residents, business owners and family members.
There were two ribbon-cuttings, the first for the bridge naming and the second for a tree dedication at the adjacent Covered Bridge Park.
The new park is being developed in three phases, with phase one completed in June. A recent village resolution officially named the bridge for the late Robert Parker Coffin, an architect who designed the cover of the bridge in 1972.
The bridge is located on Robert Parker Coffin Road, also named for Coffin, who served as Long Grove village president for more than 20 years. Coffin died in 2019.
“If you think of Robert Parker Coffin, and you think of our values, the open space, preserving large lot sizes, conservation … he is the one who really fought for that,” said Bill Jacob, the current village president.
“If it wasn’t for him, and other folks at that time, Long Grove wouldn’t be like it is today,” he said. “It would be more of a city.”
Seated, from left to right, with a village resolution are the children of the late Robert Parker Coffin, John Coffin of Blue Mounds, Wisconsin, and Betsy Hofmeister of Franktown, Colorado. Their father served as Long Grove village president. Images from the Long Grove Dedication Ceremony on Sept. 22, 2022 in downtown Long Grove. (Karie Angell Luc / Pioneer Press)
The tree ceremony also recognized Coffin, and the late Barbara (Reed) Turner and Maria Rodriguez, both of Long Grove.
Turner, 100, who died in 2020, has the Reed-Turner Woodland Preserve as a namesake. The Long Grove Park District land is a state certified nature preserve.
Maria Rodriguez was Long Grove village president from 2005 to 2013, and served as village trustee in the 1990s. Rodriguez was a congressional candidate and ran for lieutenant governor. She was 62 when she died in 2021.
Showing gratitude on behalf of daughter Maria Rodriguez was Dolores Rengers of Buffalo Grove.
“She would be very pleased,” Rengers said of the tree planted for her. “She loved the village so much.”
Installed on the bridge. Images from the Long Grove Dedication Ceremony on Sept. 22, 2022 in downtown Long Grove. (Karie Angell Luc / Pioneer Press)
The event was not the first time in recent history that people gathered to celebrate the bridge. Residents toasted the bridge’s reopening with sparkling beverages when the repaired bridge — which had been damaged by a 2018 truck accident — reopened on Aug. 14, 2020.
The next day, a school bus chartered for a golf outing became stuck inside the bridge, despite the driver being alerted by GPS to avoid the route. The wheels on the bus had to be deflated so it could be removed from the bridge before towing.
Since the reopening, the bridge has been struck by vehicles 40 times, according to Deputy Chief Christopher Covelli of the Lake County sheriff’s office.
“Oftentimes, GPS systems and mobile driving applications do not know the height of the vehicle you are operating,” Covelli said. “It is very important when operating a truck or tall vehicle to be cognizant of the signage as you approach any type of bridge.”
Facing, flush left, a smiling Dolores Rengers of Buffalo Grove, the parent of the late Maria Rodriguez of Long Grove, greets well-wishers. Images from the Long Grove Dedication Ceremony on Sept. 22, 2022 in downtown Long Grove. (Karie Angell Luc / Pioneer Press)
Village Manager Gregory Jackson said officially renaming the bridge on public record would not be enough to permanently modify GPS coordinate mapping systems to warn drivers about height limits.
“The covered bridge, before even the name change, has been designated as a national historic landmark,” he said. “It’s had that status for a period of time, but it’s been irrelevant to mapmakers.”
The village has notified map services and will keep trying but, “I’m not sure it will have an impact,” Jackson said.
The bridge features a recently installed historic register plaque. And, posted signs warn motorists about height limits.
Low overhead bars on each side of the bridge are not solutions, Jackson said, because there is not enough room in front of bridge entrances for service vehicles like local school buses to safely turn around.
The lawbreakers are, “drivers that just pay no attention, take directions off an app, can’t read, for whatever reason, 8 foot, 6 inches and just barrel through underneath that bridge,” he said. “It’s just amazing that people continue to do it.”
Installed on the bridge. Images from the Long Grove Dedication Ceremony on Sept. 22, 2022 in downtown Long Grove. (Karie Angell Luc / Pioneer Press)
Jackson added the newer metal frame, “almost serves as a can opener, like opening a sardine can, every time a truck gets four or five feet in there, it gets stuck and then it peels back the entire top of the truck.”
Since June of 2020, “There have been no structural integrity issues to the bridge whatsoever,” Jackson said. “There are just so many things that Long Grove has that we’d rather have the light shone on.
“The hitting of the bridge, it’s not something we’re pleased with,” he said. “It’s not something that we believe brings positive attention on the village.”
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