A box truck hit the historic Long Grove Covered Bridge on Thursday, police said. It is approximately the 20th time a vehicle has struck the bridge in a year.
The Lake County Sheriff’s Office responded around 4:30 p.m. Thursday to the area of Robert Park Coffin Road and Schaeffer Road in Long Grove for a vehicle crash.
Lake County Sheriff’s Office Chief of Staff Anthony Vega said deputies arrived to find a box truck that struck the Long Grove Covered Bridge.
Vega said the box truck, a white 2013 Chevrolet, scrapped the underside of the bridge canopy.
There was minor damage to the bridge and truck. No injuries were reported and the driver was cited, Vega said.
Lake County Sheriff Spokesman Lt. Christopher Covelli said he believes it is approximately the 20th time the bridge has been struck by a vehicle in the last year. He said the bridge was struck several times in recent weeks.
In April, a U-Haul truck struck the bridge and became stuck under it. The driver, a 73-year-old Nashville, Tennessee man, was operating a U-Haul box truck traveling eastbound on Robert Parker Coffin Road.
The driver said he was following his GPS and did not see the signs restricting vehicle height as he approached the bridge, Covelli said.
He proceeded under the bridge and the top of the box truck struck the bottom of the covered bridge.
“This caused significant damage to the truck and caused the truck to become stuck. He was not injured,” Covelli said at the time.
The driver in that incident was cited for disobeying a traffic control device and for driving a truck exceeding the max height on a covered bridge.