Photos
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Chicago Skyway Bridge Under the Indiana approach Photo taken by Nathan Morton in February 2007 |
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Chicago Skyway Bridge Taken from the South Ewing Ave Bridge over the Calumet River Photo taken by Nathan Morton in February 2007 |
Facts
- Overview
- Through truss bridge over Calumet River on I-90 Skyway in Chicago
- Location
- Chicago, Cook County, Illinois
- Status
- Open to traffic
- History
- Built 1958
- Design
- Through truss
- Dimensions
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Length of largest span: 649.7 ft.
Total length: 1,299.5 ft.
Deck width: 76.4 ft.
Vertical clearance above deck: 18.0 ft.
- Approximate latitude, longitude
- +41.71583, -87.53944 (decimal degrees)
41°42'57" N, 87°32'22" W (degrees°minutes'seconds") - Approximate UTM coordinates
- 16/455126/4618366 (zone/easting/northing)
- USGS topographic map
- Lake Calumet
- Inventory numbers
- IL 016-6419 (Illinois bridge number)
BH 15106 (Bridgehunter.com ID) - Inspection (as of 10/2007)
- Deck condition rating: Very Good (8 out of 9)
Superstructure condition rating: Fair (5 out of 9)
Substructure condition rating: Fair (5 out of 9)
Sufficiency rating: 67.0 (out of 100) - Average daily traffic (as of 2004)
- 47,700
Sources
- Nathan Morton - morton890 [at] yahoo [dot] com
- HAER Chicago Skyway - Historic American Engineering Record report on the Skyway
Comments
This is an awesome bridge but it is also awful to try to get a decent photo of. I've been trying to figure out a way to safely get photos of this monster for some time now. Bravo on your good start to get it documented!
The Skyway also has some most interesting plate girder structures that provide access and egress to surface streets. The structures reaffirm its construction in the late 1950's. They have all recently had work done on them during the Skyway rebuild project.
The Skyway is referred to as a "Toll Bridge" because the City of Chicago charter does not allow for the construction of toll roads. (The Toll Road Authority is a state operation.) The city IS, however, allowed to build Toll Bridges. The Skyway, then, is a Toll Bridge with 8 miles of approach spans. That's also why most people don't notice that once you're on the Skyway, there are no exits until after you've actually crossed the bridge and paid the toll!