Rating:
4 votes

Archer Avenue Bridge

Cook County, Illinois

Photos 

Photo taken by Steve Conro in September 2012

Enlarge

BH Photo #240258

Map 

Street View 

Video 

Driving across 2 truss bridges at Sag Bridge IL

Video of driving northbound across two historic truss bridges built in 1934 - the Archer Avenue Bridge over the Cal Sag Channel, and the Kingery Highway Bridge over the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, on Illinois Routes 171 and 83, in the Sag Bridge area of Lemont IL. Fortunately the traffic signal between the two bridges was green.

Video posted by Roger Deschner

Play video on YouTube

Description 

This classic Pennsylvania through truss bridge is one of the better examples of the type, and is still in good condition carrying heavy traffic on Illinois Routes 83 and 171 over the Calumet Sag Channel. It is a piece of incredibly intricate geometric art that is just plain fun to drive across, especially watching the shadows on its deck on a sunny day.

Facts 

Overview
Pennsylvania through truss bridge over Cal Sag Channel on Archer Ave/IL 171/ IL 83
Location
Lemont, Cook County, Illinois
Status
Open to traffic
History
Built 1934; rehabilitated 1997
Design
4-lane wide Pennsylvania through truss with cantilevered sidewalk attached to west side
Dimensions
Length of largest span: 304.3 ft.
Total length: 507.0 ft.
Deck width: 43.9 ft.
Vertical clearance above deck: 15.0 ft.
Recognition
Eligible for the National Register of Historic Places
Also called
Kingery Highway Cal Sag Bridge
Approximate latitude, longitude
+41.69639, -87.93639   (decimal degrees)
41°41'47" N, 87°56'11" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates
16/422082/4616491 (zone/easting/northing)
Quadrangle map:
Sag Bridge
Average daily traffic (as of 2017)
32,000
Inventory numbers
IL 016-0427 (Illinois bridge number)
BH 15139 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Inspection report (as of May 2018)
Overall condition: Fair
Superstructure condition rating: Fair (5 out of 9)
Substructure condition rating: Satisfactory (6 out of 9)
Deck condition rating: Good (7 out of 9)
Sufficiency rating: 48.9 (out of 100)
View more at BridgeReports.com

Categories 

Built 1934 (834)
Built during 1930s (12,200)
Calumet-Sag Channel (22)
Cook County, Illinois (491)
Functionally obsolete (5,793)
Have street view (29,297)
Illinois (4,947)
Lattice Railing (446)
Lemont, Illinois (7)
NR-eligible (4,115)
 Navigable waterway (2,212)
Open (41,014)
Owned by state (16,595)
Painted blue (79)
Pennsylvania truss (586)
Span length 250-500 feet (1,264)
Through truss (17,318)
Total length 500-1000 feet (3,101)
Truss (36,092)
X-Frame Portal (35)

Update Log 

  • November 8, 2015: New photo from Roger Deschner
  • June 26, 2015: Updated by Roger Deschner: Added category "Painted blue"
  • May 4, 2014: Updated by Roger Deschner: Added category "Lattice Railing"
  • January 31, 2014: Updated by Roger Deschner: Added category "X-Frame Portal"
  • June 3, 2013: Updated by Roger Deschner: Added video, photos, street view
  • March 28, 2013: New photos from Roger Deschner
  • March 27, 2013: Updated by Roger Deschner: Correct name, add Description, other details
  • September 26, 2012: Updated by Steve Conro: Corrected town, road name added photo's

Related Bridges 

Sources 

  • Steve Conro - sconro [at] yahoo [dot] com
  • Roger Deschner - rogerdeschner [at] gmail [dot] com
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Comments 

Archer Avenue Bridge
Posted November 13, 2021, by Byron Miller (iluvspam6 [at] gmail [dot] com)

Oh my. We just drove this bridge, today. What a beauty to enjoy!

Archer Avenue Bridge
Posted June 26, 2015, by Roger Deschner (rogerdeschner [at] gmail [dot] com)

Good news. This distinctive 1934 Pennsylvania truss is being repainted, as I type. The new paint job is about halfway complete, and is the same shade of blue as the nearby Kingery Highway S&S Bridge that was repainted in 2014. Good to see these nice old truss spans taken care of, so they can carry their heavy traffic load well into the future.