Roger Deschner

I just found that Google put their street view camera on a boat on the Chicago River. It captured some great views of a number of interesting bridges, with even good views of the undersides of bridges, including this bridge. It went up the North Branch on both sides of Goose Island to North Avenue, down the South Branch to Damen Avenue, and out the Main Branch through the Chicago Locks and all around in Lake Michigan past Navy Pier.

This will be fun to explore!

The Red Bridge in Des Moines is "high"lighted (pun intended) in this Associated Press article, which has been published in a number of newspapers today such as the Chicago Tribune. It reports on a number of bridges that are being raised in inland areas of the country due to increasing flood risk.

https://apnews.com/552ec81f352f475ba2c80624d8a720f8/Climate-...

The photo I had previously posted here turned out to be a picture of Tunnel 39, so I moved it there.

Nice piece about this bridge this morning on WBEZ (NPR Chicago), focusing on the bridgetender's house, and its role in the Great Chicago Flood of 1992, which happened 25 years ago today. Audio story includes interesting history of the bridge, including its origin as a pathway between two taverns, the time a taxicab flew off it into the river while it was being lifted, and of course the Great Chicago Flood in 1992 which was caused by pilings driven to protect the bridge from errant barges. Some nice photos.

https://www.wbez.org/shows/morning-shift/whats-that-building...

I'm not sure either. More recent reports would seem to pinpoint the failed spans as being part of the Piedmont Avenue overpass and viaduct. The fire location was just northeast of Piedmont Avenue, and google street views from Piedmont under the bridge also show the suspicious spools. I originally added this, and I'll fix it up when better information becomes available.

Georgia DOT inspectors have now also condemned the southbound lanes as having been damaged by the fire badly enough to require replacement, even though that bridge did not collapse.

Apparently good news here. After some uncertainty over cost, MNDOT will rehab the main steel truss spans of the old bridge after all, but they'll completely replace the approach spans in what appears to be a compromise to keep the overall project within budget. They will be replaced one at a time to maintain contractor access for rehabbing the main steel truss spans at the same time. First Minnesota end, then Wisconsin. So it will indeed wind up as an old/new couplet of 1-way bridges.

I was just through Winona, and I drove across the new westbound bridge. It has opened to 2-way traffic until work on the old bridge is completed and it's reopened for eastbound traffic in 2019. Demolition work has begun on the west (Minnesota) approach spans.

http://www.postbulletin.com/news/local/fixing-the-winona-bri...

Bridge is now threatened, and a group is organizing in Long Grove to save it. Newspaper article: http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20170111/news/170119721/

It's a kind of a crazy bridge - a 1906 metal pony truss that gained a covering in 1972.

Here's another theory, after comparing the 1962 topo map with the present satellite imagery.

I think the bridge is still in its original location, though it is now crossing dry land. Sometime after 1962, Clear Creek changed course to the north, either by a natural flood or deliberately by man. When it did, it washed out the entire road on the north side of the creek - the creek now appears to occupy the former alignment of the road. Rather than rebuild the road close to where it was on the north side of the creek and move the bridge, which could have left the road vulnerable to another washout, the county simply rebuilt the road on its present alignment south of the creek, along with a new bridge at a new location. This also eliminated two sharp curves on the road.

Deck completely replaced in 2016. If the city spent that much on rehabilitation, this iconic bridge probably won't be demolished and replaced anytime soon. We can hope.

From the photos at http://www.detroitnews.com/picture-gallery/news/local/detroi..., this appears to be a Scherzer-type rolling lift bridge, an unusual design for 2015. Is this true?

The Ski Train will resume service on January 7, 2017, running from Denver Union Station, through the Moffat Tunnel, to Winter Park Resort. It will run Saturdays, Sundays, and holiday Mondays. It will be operated by Amtrak using Amtrak equipment. https://www.amtrak.com/winterparkexpress

Visited in July 2016 and took some pictures. Track appears somewhat maintained, with evidence a hi-rail vehicle has been through here recently. So UPRR has not completely abandoned this line (yet). However all signal systems have been dismantled. The south portal is easily reached on a public county road, from US 24 just south of the pass.

The bridge is open again after rehab. See the Daily Southtown article about the reopening in the links section for a description of the design flaw that hastened corrosion on this bridge. This design flaw was apparently corrected in the rehab. Nice to see the nearby Chatham Street bridge also being repaired.

Articles about bridge rehab:

http://www.blueisland.org/2015/11/18/1-6-million-grant-award...

http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/daily-southtown/news/c...

Yet another perfectly good bridge damaged by a careless truck driver, killing a 12-year old child and injuring her mother who was driving. Apparently that trash hauling company has had a poor safety record.

Story at KPRC-TV of Houston http://www.click2houston.com/news/truck-company-in-bridge-ac...