McClugage Bridge

The McClugage Bridge carries U.S. Route 150 over Upper Peoria Lake & Peoria Lake in the Illinois River in Illinois, United States. The bridge's official name honors David H. McClugage, mayor of Peoria from 1937 to 1941. The crossing is actually composed of two bridges, one carrying westbound traffic and one carrying eastbound traffic.

Southern span

The original span of the McClugage Bridge was designed as a steel cantilever bridge in 1939 to replace the Upper Free Bridge, an existing bridge across a narrow stretch of Upper Peoria Lake. Due to World War II, the bridge was not completed until 1948. The southern span was rehabilitated in 2000. During rehabilitation, an accident in 2000 killed three iron workers when scaffolding on the bridge collapsed 62 feet (19 m) into the river. Due to this tragedy, there was an effort to change the name of the bridge to "Ironworkers Memorial Bridge". However, instead of the name change, the iron workers were memorialized by a monument near the bridge that was dedicated in April 2001.