The one stop light in Crossville, IL has a gas station where the number 5 button doesn’t work on the cash register. It sits facing the dead end road that leads to the Harmony Way Bridge.

This massive structure sits abandoned sprawling across the Wabash river on the boarders of Indiana and Illinois. The disrepair is more observable on the Illinois side as it is not blocked with tall fencing like on the Indiana side.

Like much of the infrastructure in the United States, the Harmony Way bridge was in derelict condition while it was in use.

The now closed two lane bridge operated until 2012 when engineers discovered that the weight load calculations could not support the traffic. It was scheduled to be closed on May 29, 2012 but after hearing the news it was quickly shut down. The closing caused a strain for farmers who used it to get to their crop fields, as they are not allowed to use the bridge on Interstate 64.

Thirteen toll booth operators were immediately laid off. Before that, in 2010 it was noted as needing $6million in repairs but was kept open to traffic with about 900 vehicles crossing a day.

Harmony Way bridge was built by a private company chartered by Congress called Big Wabash Bridge Company of Carmi, Illinois. On May 1, 1928 this enterprise partnered with the Nashville Bridge Company of Nashville to begin erecting it and in December of 1930 it was opened for use.

Since 2012 it has sat in the elements, too expensive to repair and as it ages and less likely to be brought back to a safe standard of use for vehicles. Many in the area would love to see it repurposed into a walking trail bridge.

While walking up the closed road to the toll booth, we spotted 2 bald eagles fly over head and a white egret in the river below. The area is very isolated. We passed a few fisherman who use the deserted road to cast off the overpasses.