Bridging Generations: Engineering a Future While Honoring the Past
While working on the biggest project of his career, this alumnus proves all roads lead back to Bradley.
By Emily Potts
Peering across the Illinois River from East Peoria to Peoria on Highway 150, you can’t help but notice—and be captivated by—a massive arch beside the historic McClugage bridge. This modern bridge structure is set to replace the current two-lane eastbound bridge that has been in service since 1948 following World War II. Traffic flowed both ways on the original structure until 1982, when an additional three-lane bridge was erected directly north of it to accommodate westbound traffic.
Although the new design is distinctly different, it’s structurally necessary, as resident engineer John Love ’00 explained. “It’s a testament to future engineering design standards, yet it pays tribute to the past. The old bridges are beautiful and should be celebrated for the ingenuity of past generations, but the change from a truss to an arch design will be more sustainable and cost effective in coming years.” The new bridge also includes a recreational multi-use path.
Love, who works for the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT), has been overseeing the construction inspection since 2019—it’s the largest and longest-running project he’s worked on to date. He started working with IDOT as an intern in 1998, when he was studying civil engineering at Bradley, and he’s been there ever since. “I was fortunate enough to be a part of the upgrade I-74 projects through downtown Peoria from 2005 to 2007, and in Morton from 2013 to 2016,” he said. “But as an overall cost comparison, the McClugage Bridge project dwarfs those individual projects by about four times.”
Engineering Expectations
Love works with approximately 15 engineers and engineering technicians to ensure compliance and safety standards are maintained, while monitoring costs and providing real-time updates to the local district, among other things. Let’s just say he puts in long hours each week, because the to-do list is never-ending. Out of pure necessity, he’s sharpened his time management and organizational skills.
“We might have 10 to 15 activities going on each day—with up to 100 construction workers—such as building a pier while we’re setting beams, pouring a deck, building barrier walls, etc., and I can’t be at all of them. Each morning, I pinpoint which activities will require my attention and then balance that time with any necessary paperwork that is a requirement of the job,” he explained. “It’s a lot of pressure, but I’ve got a lot of good people around me.”
One of the biggest hurdles is working over a body of water that is three-quarters of a mile wide. The river itself is not very deep for most of the length of the bridge, with the exception being the main channel crossing.
“It’s only two-feet deep at normal levels, which makes it difficult to gain access to the various parts of the structure that are being built. The water needs to be at a certain level so you can float boats and barges with heavy equipment in,” Love explained. He and his crew must also coordinate with the U.S. Coast Guard and Army Corps for any big movements since the Illinois River is a heavy commercial highway with barges carrying millions of dollars of natural resources every day between the Gulf and the Great Lakes.
“You’re only given 48- or 72-hour windows to do that work because they can’t afford to have the main river channel closed. It would be like shutting down the Dan Ryan Expressway in Chicago,” Love said. “They’ll let you do it for short increments.”
A College Course-Correction
Love grew up in Pekin, Ill., near Peoria, and currently lives in Tremont with his wife Amie and their four children—two of whom attend Bradley. When he started college—first at Illinois Central College, then University of Wyoming—he thought he’d pursue a career in math or physics. However, after a few years in school—and just one semester shy of graduating—he shifted gears and transferred to Bradley to pursue civil engineering.
“I decided it was the best of both worlds (physics and math). I was also homesick and needed to grow up a little,” Love admitted, adding it was the best decision he ever made. Bradley’s engineering program provided him the space he needed to grow and professional opportunities he wouldn’t otherwise have been given. He also met his wife shortly after returning to central Illinois, and she now works at Bradley with his former professor, Dr. Kris Maillacheruvu, the interim dean of the Caterpillar College of Engineering and Technology.
“It was Dr. Maillacheruvu’s first year at Bradley when I had him as a professor and I really enjoyed his class,” Love said. “Simply put, he knew the material he was teaching and was excellent at conveying it to students. Individually, if something wasn’t clicking, he was always available to help those who wanted to help themselves.”
Beyond the Bridge
Though his job consumes much of his time lately—and he admits that is self-imposed because he has a hard time leaving work at work—in his free time he enjoys watching his kids’ extracurricular activities, including sports, music and theater. “They are all very talented and it never gets old. I hope when they get older, my kids will understand why I was working so much and learn to appreciate the efforts of those working on construction projects.”
When the McClugage bridge is finished, Love is planning two trips. He and Amie want to travel to Scotland—a bucket list item for both—and he wants to take his youngest son on a week-long adventure before he graduates from high school.
They’ll have to wait a little while, as the project isn’t expected to be complete until summer 2025. He hopes that by early December, the new bridge will be open to traffic. Once that happens, the old eastbound bridge will be taken down—the main truss will be imploded and the rest will be dismantled,
piece by piece.
“The community has been very supportive through the duration of the project and the excitement’s grown every day as more and more of it becomes visible to the public,” Love said. He attributes the support to the continued service of the existing bridges.
Love is proud of the efforts of everyone who has contributed to this construction project the past five years. “It’s a large group effort to make something like this happen. I have been blessed to work with so many great engineers, trade workers and contractors,” he explained. “I love driving through past projects knowing I contributed to something much greater than any individual could ever achieve.”
Bradley has been a conduit for so many positive things in Love’s world, including the mentors and lifelong friendships he’s gained along the way. “Bradley has been forever impactful in my life’s journey in so many ways that I can’t imagine having made any other choice on where to finish college.”