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CN - State Street Bridge

Cook County, Illinois

Photos 

CN State Street Bridge

Overview

Photo taken by John Marvig in December 2018

Enlarge

BH Photo #441254

Map 

Description 

This bridge is in very poor condition, and even the recent shoring with wooden blocks has begun to fail. It is the stone abutments that are the worst failing component, though there are other deteriorated elements.

Facts 

Overview
Pony/through plate girder bridge over State Street on Canadian National Railway
Location
Chicago, Cook County, Illinois
Status
Open to traffic
Future prospects
To be replaced 2019
History
Built 1899
Railroads
- Amtrak (AMTK)
- Canadian National Railway (CN)
- Chicago & Western Indiana Railroad (CWI)
- Illinois Central Railroad (IC; ICG (1972-1988))
- St. Charles Air Line Railroad
Design
Pony plate girder
Dimensions
Length of largest span: 65.0 ft.
Total length: 106.0 ft.
Approximate latitude, longitude
+41.86069, -87.62724   (decimal degrees)
41°51'38" N, 87°37'38" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates
16/447939/4634498 (zone/easting/northing)
Inventory number
BH 83940 (Bridgehunter.com ID)

Categories 

19th Century (7,378)
Amtrak (524)
Built 1899 (394)
Built during 1890s (2,935)
Canadian National Railway (506)
Chicago & Western Indiana Railroad (14)
Chicago, Illinois (323)
Cook County, Illinois (448)
Deck girder (5,644)
Doomed (1,093)
Girder (9,997)
 Illinois (4,593)
Illinois Central Railroad (572)
Open (39,528)
Owned by railroad (12,161)
Plate girder (7,737)
Railroad (15,214)
Span length 50-75 feet (9,949)
St. Charles Air Line Railroad (9)
Through girder (3,678)
Total length 100-125 feet (5,122)

Update Log 

  • April 14, 2019: Updated by Roger Deschner: Added photos, categories, description
  • January 6, 2019: New photos from John Marvig
  • December 31, 2018: Added by John Marvig

Sources 

  • John Marvig - marvigj27 [at] gmail [dot] com
  • Roger Deschner - rogerdeschner [at] gmail [dot] com
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Comments 

CN - State Street Bridge
Posted October 1, 2019, by John Marvig (marvigj27 [at] gmail [dot] com)

Roger,

While not nearly as important today, when the St. Charles airline was built, it was a very important rail connection in Chicago. While these bridges are not overly significant on any scale, I’m glad we were able to document them for future generations, especially considering their significance to Chicago 100 years ago.

CN - State Street Bridge
Posted September 30, 2019, by Roger Deschner (rogerdeschner [at] gmail [dot] com)

Demolition of this bridge is underway now. I'm glad I was able to photograph it back in April.

State Street underneath it is closed to traffic until October 5, 2019. I have not heard how rail traffic is affected.

CN - State Street Bridge
Posted January 6, 2019, by John Marvig (marvigj27 [at] gmail [dot] com)

Not hard to see why these five bridges (Clark, Dearborn, State, Wabash, Michigan) will be replaced this year. The State Street bridge is probably in the worst immediately visible condition, with a massive sag in the west abutment. To counter this, temporary timber cribbing has been added under the girders, but is beginning to fail. All five bridges have advanced pier and deck deterioration, and most have had additional cribbing and bracing added.