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Chicago & Western Indiana Railroad Bridge

Cook County, Illinois
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Photos 

C&WI is the lowered bridge in the foreground

Photo taken by Steve Conro in September 2012

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Map 

Street View 

Description 

The Chicago & Western Indiana (C&WI) Railroad Bridge is an outstanding example of a “tower-driven” vertical-lift bridge, characterized by its operating machinery mounted upon the two towers of the bridge that contain the counterweights. ...the bridge is based on the patents developed in the early 20th century by the Kansas City-based firm of Waddell and Harrington, yet is the modern counterpart to the firm’s popular “span-driven” bridges built between 1912 and 1915 in Chicago.

-Commission on Chicago Landmarks, Historic Chicago Railroad Bridges report

Facts 

Overview
Warren through truss with all verticals bridge over Calumet River on abandoned Chicago & Western Indiana Railroad
Location
Chicago, Cook County, Illinois
Status
Closed to all traffic
History
Built 1967-1968 to replace earlier Strauss-type bridge; currently disused, stored in raised position
Builders
- American Bridge Co. of New York
- Corbett Construction Co.
Design
Warren through truss with all verticals
Dimensions
Total length: 282.0 ft.
Approximate latitude, longitude
+41.66945, -87.55872   (decimal degrees)
41°40'10" N, 87°33'31" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates
16/453489/4613227 (zone/easting/northing)
USGS topographic map
Lake Calumet
Inventory number
BH 50922 (Bridgehunter.com ID)

Categories 

American Bridge Co. (449)
Built 1968 (86)
Built during 1960s (1,214)
Chicago & Western Indiana Railroad (3)
Chicago, Illinois (98)
Closed (2,071)
Cook County, Illinois (167)
Corbett Construction Co. (1)
Have street view (9,888)
Illinois (2,499)
 Movable (1,355)
Navigable waterway (1,448)
Railroad (4,070)
Through truss (9,205)
Total length 250-500 feet (3,371)
Truss (23,566)
Vertical lift (275)
Warren through truss (926)
Warren through truss with all verticals (143)
Warren truss (3,957)

Update Log 

  • September 25, 2012: New photos from Steve Conro
  • August 13, 2012: Updated by Luke Harden: Added categories "Chicago & Western Indiana Railroad", "Railroad", "Navigable waterway"
  • January 12, 2012: Added by Frank Hicks

Sources 

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Comments 

Chicago & Western Indiana Railroad Bridge
Posted September 25, 2012, by Steve Conro (sconro [at] yahoo [dot] com)

Although this abandoned rail bridge is normally stored in the raised position. It appears like they're currently using it as a bypass for the Torrence Ave automobile bridge which is under going some sort of maintenance.