Photos
 |
South Portal Of Bridge Looking East Photo taken by Historic American Engineering Record |
 |
Detail Of South Portal Photo taken by Historic American Engineering Record |
 |
Detail Of Truss And Pedestrian Footpath Looking Northwest Photo taken by Historic American Engineering Record |
 |
North Portal With Bridge Tender's House Photo taken by Historic American Engineering Record |
 |
Detail Of Lifting Mechanism With Bridge Tender's House In Background Photo taken by Historic American Engineering Record |
 |
West Elevation Tour boats ply the Chicago River daily during the summer. They are all built specifically to fit beneath the bascule bridges spanning the river, to avoid needing to open the bridges in order to pass. Photo taken by J.R. Manning in May 2010 |
 |
Open Position The open bridge is framed by the Merchandise Mart, a building so large that for many years, it had its own zip code. The photo is taken from the river walk / pedestrian walkway / plaza above Lower Wacker Drive. Photo taken by J.R. Manning in May 2010 |
 |
General View of Bridge Looking north. The bridge is actually skewed slightly and runs in a southeast-northwesterly direction. Photo taken by J.R. Manning in May 2010 |
 |
Plaque This is a rather interesting plaque, the meaning is open to speculation, isn't it? Photo taken by J.R. Manning in May 2010 |
 |
East Pedestrian Walkway This bridge is of the classic "Chicago Bascule Bridge" design that comes to mind when one thinks of bascule bridges here. Photo taken by J.R. Manning in May 2010 |
 |
Center Joint Photo taken by J.R. Manning in May 2010 |
 |
Northwest Quadrant & Bridge Tender's House Photo taken by J.R. Manning in May 2010 |
 |
Overview from Riverwalk Looking southeast Photo taken by J.R. Manning in May 2010 |
 |
Barrel Shot Looking Southeast Photo taken by J.R. Manning in May 2010 |
 |
Oblique Perspective, Looking South Photo taken by J.R. Manning in May 2010 |
 |
East Elevation Photo taken by J.R. Manning in May 2010 |
 |
Truss Detail Photo taken by J.R. Manning in May 2010 |
 |
Truss Detail Beneath the north leaf. Photo taken by J.R. Manning in May 2010 |
 |
Mating Joint Catwalks, locking mechanism, navigation lights and decorative lights. The Loop bridges are brightly highlighted with color accent lights at night. Photo taken by J.R. Manning in May 2010 |
Map
- Google Maps
- Google Street View (if available)
- Yahoo! Maps
- Bing Maps
- MSR Maps
- OpenStreetMap
Facts
- Overview
- Bascule bridge over Main Branch Chicago River on Franklin Street in Chicago
- Location
- Chicago, Cook County, Illinois
- Status
- Open to traffic
- History
- Built 1920; rehabilitated 2002
- Builders
- - Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Co.
- Ketler & Elliot Co.
- Design
- Bascule Pratt pony truss
- Dimensions
-
Length of largest span: 252.0 ft.
Total length: 319.9 ft.
Deck width: 38.1 ft.
- Approximate latitude, longitude
- +41.88750, -87.63583 (decimal degrees)
41°53'15" N, 87°38'09" W (degrees°minutes'seconds") - Approximate UTM coordinates
- 16/447249/4637481 (zone/easting/northing)
- USGS topographic map
- Chicago Loop
- Inventory numbers
- IL 016-6020 (Illinois bridge number)
BH 15151 (Bridgehunter.com ID) - Inspection (as of 10/2008)
- Deck condition rating: Good (7 out of 9)
Superstructure condition rating: Good (7 out of 9)
Substructure condition rating: Good (7 out of 9)
Sufficiency rating: 76.0 (out of 100) - Average daily traffic (as of 2006)
- 17,000
Sources
- HAER IL-65 - Chicago River Bascule Bridge, Franklin Street, Spanning Chicago River at North Franklin Street, Chicago, Cook County, IL
- James Baughn - webmaster [at] bridgehunter [dot] com
- J.R. Manning - thekitchenguy [at] sbcglobal [dot] net