Long Grove, Lake County, IL

Robert Parker Coffin Covered Bridge (Long Grove)

Posted clearance 10'6"

Clearance: 10'6"
Carried: Robert Parker Coffin Road
Crosses: Buffalo Creek
Location: Long Grove, Lake County, IL

Verified location (satellite + source imagery). Open full map → · Google Map Link

Reported strikes (since 2020 reconstruction (Broken Bridge Treats tally))

Incident records here

Fatalities

—

Injuries (confirmed counts)

Mitigation history: Historic 1906 covered bridge (National Register); the 1972 wooden covering lowers clearance to 10'6" to deter trucks. 'No trucks' signage widely ignored. Struck ~76 times since the 2020 reconstruction — tracked on a 'wall of shame' by the Broken Bridge Treats chocolate shop at 220 Robert Parker Coffin Rd (13th strike Apr 2021; 41st/42nd Sept–Oct 2022).

strikes · IL · since 2020

The Robert Parker Coffin covered bridge in Long Grove — built in 1906 and on the National Register — had been struck 66 times since 2020, with “no trucks” signage widely ignored.

Village of Long Grove / CBS News Chicago reporting needs review
CBS News Chicago · archived

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Incident history

66 strikes since 2020 Recurring strikes
The Robert Parker Coffin Road covered bridge has been struck roughly 76 times since its 2020 reconstruction — an average of well over a dozen a year. The Broken Bridge Treats shop nearby documents each hit on a photo 'wall of shame.'

Vehicle: Box trucks, U-Hauls, delivery trucks · 2–3 hour extractions of stuck trucks · Cause: Drivers ignore the posted low-clearance and "no trucks" signage on the 10'6" covered bridge

Sources: CBS Chicago (archived) · NBC Chicago (archived)
April 21, 2026 Clearance strike
A U-Haul truck hit the Robert Parker Coffin covered bridge around noon and kept going after initial contact, wedging in — one of the roughly 76 strikes tracked since 2020.

Vehicle: U-Haul box truck (~11 ft tall) · Cause: Driver struck the covered bridge and continued, wedging the truck farther than most previous hits

Sources: ABC7 Chicago (archived)

Statewide context — IL

$400K

IL · per strike

Illinois DOT puts the average repair cost of an oversize-load bridge strike at roughly $400,000; the Illinois Trucking Association says $100,000 towing bills are “particularly common in the Chicagoland area.”

Illinois DOT / Illinois Trucking Association official needs review
Transport Topics · 2021-04-06 · archived

1,750

viaducts · IL

Chicago has roughly 1,750 viaducts, many built in the late 1800s, and truck strikes are so routine that the Chicago Police Department 'gave up counting' vertical-clearance accidents — often not even ticketing because, as a CPD spokeswoman put it, the truck 'is already crunched like a sardine can with its top peeled off.' CDOT's program to raise the most-hit viaducts runs about $1.5 million each. (Reported by Heavy Duty Trucking, early 2000s.)

Chicago Police Dept / CDOT (via Heavy Duty Trucking) needs review
Heavy Duty Trucking (truckinginfo.com)