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.
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.
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.