A suburban chocolate shop is stepping beyond selling treats to track the dozens of times a nearby historic bridge has been hit by truck drivers over the years.
Despite the warning signs telling drivers not to go under the historic bridge in Long Grove, more than 70 drivers have attempted and gotten stuck since 2020, according to the small business.
The staff and employees at Broken Bridge Treats, located at 220 Robert Parker Coffin Rd., are keeping tabs of the incidents with a “wall of shame.”
“People come from all over the place, they come from Naperville, they come from Chicago, they come from Florida, they come from Arizona,” said general manager Karen Klancnik. “They just love it, they walk in, and the first thing they do is turn and go just like ‘wow,’ and I say, ‘this is my wall of shame.’”
Klancnik runs the chocolate shop and said the stories are endless of drivers attempting to go under the historic Robert Parker Coffin Bridge. She showed NBC Chicago pictures of the different trucks over the years.
“There’s a lot of stories with this bridge, so that’s why you know it’s almost comical,” she said. “It’s kinda serious too because people really need to read and know which way to go.”
NBC Chicago covered the 13th time the bridge was struck since 2020 back in April 2021, and then again in September and October 2022 when it was struck for the 41st and 42nd time.
A box truck smashed into the historic Long Grove bridge again, this time on Monday afternoon. The crash marks the 41st time the bridge has been hit since it was reconstructed in 2020. NBC 5’s Kate Chappell reports.
A couple of years ago, Broken Bridge Treats put up the picture wall to document the incidents and even renamed their chocolate store to pay homage to the infamous local bridge.
“I think the naming of the store is amazing,” Klancnik said. “I think we hit it right on with the broken bridge and that’s the draw of it because that brings the people here.”
The bridge was built in 1906 and is listed on the national register of historic places. It was reopened in 2020 after being damaged by a truck. It was rebuilt and reinforced with steel beams across the cover to protect it from future damage.
But on Monday, there was another incident involving a U-Haul moving truck. Klancnik believes it’s the 76th hit since 2020.
“Please, please read the signs, don’t take a chance, and get stuck under that bridge,” she said.
Klancnik said she knows it’s only a matter of time before another driver hits the historic bridge.
“No trucks should be going through that bridge at all,” she said. But, given how often they try to, Klancnik said “there’s plenty of more pictures to come.”
