Ninth Street Swing Bridge
Description
The Swing Bridge permits the flow of vehicular traffic along Division Street to cross the Chicago S&S Canal. The bridge consists of twelve sections, with the pivoting mechanism located in the fifth section from the east bank. The bridge opens to permit Canal traffic to pass through. The bridge is of a Pratt truss type construction, with vertical compression members and diagonal tension members.-- Historic American Engineering Record
Facts
- Overview
- Lost Through truss bridge over Sanitary & Ship Canal on Old 9th Street
- Location
- Lockport, Will County, Illinois
- Status
- Replaced by a new bridge in 1972
- Design
- Through truss
- Also called
- Butterfly Dam Bridge
- Approximate latitude, longitude
- +41.59158, -88.06580 (decimal degrees)
41°35'30" N, 88°03'57" W (degrees°minutes'seconds") - Approximate UTM coordinates
- 16/411170/4604980 (zone/easting/northing)
- Quadrangle map:
- Joliet
- Inventory number
- BH 56243 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Update Log
- March 9, 2018: New photo from Douglas Butler
- December 14, 2015: New photo from Douglas Butler
- December 13, 2015: New photos from Luke
- December 13, 2015: New photo from Douglas Butler
- May 14, 2013: Added by Frank Hicks
Sources
- Frank Hicks
- Douglas Butler
- HAER IL-16-D - Lockport Historic District, Chicago Sanitary & Ship Canal, Swing Bridge, Sixteenth Street, Lockport, Will County, IL
- Luke
Comments
Luke and Doug cant tell which is 16th and which is 9th?
The bridge shown here (and the description) are the Division Street bridge, also known as 16th Street bridge. The 9th street replacement bridge (high bridge) can be seen in the background of several of the photos.
If you use Google Earth view I think you can see the remains of the butterfly dam that used to stand in the centerline of the canal there at that narrow area just north of the ninth street bridge. Just south of the controlling works. Looks to me like when they removed it from service that they just went south a little bit and just laid it on its side along the western canal bank. Fascinating piece of engineering. I've never heard of another one like it anywhere.
There are actually pictures of this bridge somewhere. I'll see if I can find them. Might be with HAER.
This page's URL is http://bridgehunter.com/il/will/ninth-street-swing/
Maybe it's the 9th street that you have posted. Just guessing probably this one.