Rating:
4 votes

Kinzie Street C&NW Railway Bridge

Cook County, Illinois
Share:

Photos 

Historic Landmark

The 1908 C&NW bridge was the longest and heaviest in the world when it opened. The bridge originally carried freight and passenger traffic to the Wells Street Station. When the C&NW moved passenger service to their new passenger depot on the west shore of the river (today it is the Ogilvie Transporation Center) the bridge was used for freight only. The lines went all the way to Navy Pier. Using air rights, the Merchadise Mart was built on the site of the Wells Street Station, over the tracks that served the Merchandise Mart and continued through the enormous building. The last freight customer was the Chicago Sun-Times. The Union Pacfic absorbed the C&NW in 1995. The newspaper moved operations in 2001, leaving the UPRR with no customers east of the river, so the line was abandoned. The bridge remains in place, in the raised position, declared a Chicago Landmark on December 12, 2007.

Photo taken by J.R. Manning in May 2010

Enlarge

Map 

Facts 

Overview
Warren through truss bridge over North Branch Chicago River on Union Pacific Railroad (Formerly C&NW)
Location
Chicago, Cook County, Illinois
Status
Closed to all traffic
History
Built 1908; Abandoned ca. 2001; Declared Chicago Landmark 2007
Builders
- Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Co.
- Strauss Bascule Bridge Co. of Chicago, Illinois
Design
Single leaf Strauss-type bascule bridge
Dimensions
Length of largest span: 170.0 ft.
Total length: 196.0 ft.
Also called
North Branch Railroad Bridge
Kinzie Street Railroad Bridge
Approximate latitude, longitude
+41.88845, -87.63885   (decimal degrees)
41°53'18" N, 87°38'20" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates
16/446999/4637588 (zone/easting/northing)
USGS topographic map
Chicago Loop
Inventory number
BH 45229 (Bridgehunter.com ID)

Categories 

Bascule (560)
Built 1908 (423)
Built during 1900s (4,268)
Chicago & North Western Railway (492)
Chicago River Movable Bridges (42)
Chicago, Illinois (99)
Closed (2,085)
Cook County, Illinois (168)
Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Co. (4)
Illinois (2,501)
Movable (1,360)
 Owned by railroad (4,120)
Preserved (662)
Railroad (4,223)
Span length 125-175 feet (2,966)
Strauss Bascule Bridge Co. (26)
Strauss Heel Trunnion Bascule (10)
Through truss (9,254)
Total length 175-250 feet (2,806)
Truss (23,615)
Warren through truss (935)
Warren truss (3,959)

Update Log 

  • March 26, 2012: Updated by Daniel Hopkins: Added category "Railroad"
  • March 26, 2012: New photo from Steve Conro
  • January 13, 2011: New photos from Eric Hanson
  • May 11, 2010: Added by J.R. Manning

Sources 

Post a comment here
Contact webmaster

Comments 

Kinzie Street C&NW Railway Bridge
Posted October 21, 2011, by Mick E. Dee (mickedee [at] cnwrr [dot] com)

The railroad calls it the "Wells Street Bridge". Named after the Wells St. Terminal.