But the last three decades of students from La Salle have relied on Shippingsport Bridge to get to the college. There were two periods in the last two years when the bridge needed to be closed for repair, rerouting traffic along Illinois Route 351 to the Peru Bridge on Route 251 or the Lincoln Memorial Bridge on I-39. Shippingsport Bridge was closed at the beginning of the Fall 2000 and Fall 1999 semesters. Sophomore Paul Bankson of LaSalle says the trip to the college, which normally took seven minutes, took an extra five to ten minutes when Shippingsport was closed, and every minute counts when you're speeding to avoid being late for class. If not, they know enough not to get pissed off about it.
Some people go out of their way to avoid the bridge.
Others view the bridge, which is a little narrower than the Peru Bridge and far narrower than the massive four-lane Lincoln Memorial Bridge, as scary. When the center span of the Strauss-vertical lift bridge needs to be raised, huge gears that slow the dropping counterweights that raise the span turn, causing the bridge to vibrate. Despite a few drawbacks to using the drawbridge, it's a common consensus that when the bridge is taken down it will be missed during the four years or so before the replacement process is complete. Once a higher bridge more similar to the Peru Bridge replaces it, there will be no more getting stuck in a micro-traffic jam waiting for the barge to pass.