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Bishop Ford Expwy "Steel Bridge"

Cook County, Illinois
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Photos 

Photo taken by Steve Conro in September 2012

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Map 

Street Views 

Description 

If you lived or been in Chicago and listened to the traffic reports you've undoubtedly heard travel times on the Bishop Ford Expy from 95th to the "Steel Bridge".

View Uglybridges.com report

Facts 

Overview
Pair of through truss bridges over Little Calumet River on I-94 in calumet City
Location
Calumet City, Cook County, Illinois
Status
Open to traffic
History
Built 1949
Design
Warren through truss with all verticals
Dimensions
Length of largest span: 419.8 ft.
Total length: 794.7 ft.
Deck width: 39.6 ft.
Vertical clearance above deck: 16.0 ft.
Approximate latitude, longitude
+41.64127, -87.57851   (decimal degrees)
41°38'29" N, 87°34'43" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates
16/451821/4610109 (zone/easting/northing)
USGS topographic map
Lake Calumet
Inventory numbers
IL 016-0158 (Illinois bridge number)
BH 15105 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Inspection (as of 12/2011)
Deck condition rating: Good (7 out of 9)
Superstructure condition rating: Good (7 out of 9)
Substructure condition rating: Good (7 out of 9)
Sufficiency rating: 79.0 (out of 100)
Average daily traffic (as of 2009)
87,100

Categories 

Built 1949 (266)
Built during 1940s (2,797)
Calumet City, Illinois (2)
Cook County, Illinois (168)
Have street view (9,897)
I-94 (9)
Illinois (2,500)
Navigable waterway (1,448)
Open (28,315)
 Owned by state (9,809)
Span length 250-500 feet (863)
Through truss (9,210)
Total length 500-1000 feet (1,805)
Truss (23,574)
Warren through truss (928)
Warren through truss with all verticals (145)
Warren truss (3,961)

Update Log 

  • March 22, 2012: New Street View added by Tony Dillon

Sources 

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Comments 

Bishop Ford Expwy "Steel Bridge"
Posted April 19, 2013, by Paul Ronczy (paul [dot] ronczy [at] ssa [dot] gov)

The current bridges are replacement bridges built sometime in the 1980's. The original bridges as built had a grated steel deck which made a distinctive sound when driving over it, hence the name.

Calumet Expressway Bridge
Posted March 22, 2012, by Roger Deschner (rogerdeschner [at] gmail [dot] com)

Chicago radio traffic reporters call this "The Steel Bridge". Urban legend has it that this bridge is magnetic, and pulls vehicles into it, which is why it is a frequent site of accidents.