Rating:
1 vote

Chicago Skyway Bridge

Cook County, Illinois

Photos 

Chicago Skyway Bridge

Under the Indiana approach

Photo taken by Nathan Morton in February 2007

Enlarge

BH Photo #127230

Map 

Street Views 

Facts 

Overview
Through truss bridge over Calumet River on I-90 in Chicago
Location
Chicago, Cook County, Illinois
Status
Open to traffic
History
Built 1958
Builders
- American Bridge Co. of New York
- J. E. Greiner Co. of Baltimore, Maryland & Chicago, Illinois
Design
Through truss
Dimensions
Length of largest span: 649.7 ft.
Total length: 1,299.5 ft.
Deck width: 76.4 ft.
Vertical clearance above deck: 18.0 ft.
Approximate latitude, longitude
+41.71790, -87.54294   (decimal degrees)
41°43'04" N, 87°32'35" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates
16/454836/4618598 (zone/easting/northing)
Quadrangle map:
Lake Calumet
Average daily traffic (as of 2016)
34,000
Inventory numbers
IL 016-6419 (Illinois bridge number)
BH 15106 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Inspection report (as of September 2017)
Overall condition: Fair
Superstructure condition rating: Fair (5 out of 9)
Substructure condition rating: Fair (5 out of 9)
Deck condition rating: Good (7 out of 9)
Sufficiency rating: 68.7 (out of 100)
View more at BridgeReports.com

Categories 

American Bridge Co. (1,549)
Built 1958 (356)
Built during 1950s (3,886)
Calumet River (20)
Cantilevered (308)
Cantilevered truss (250)
Chicago, Illinois (339)
Cook County, Illinois (469)
Have street view (27,549)
Illinois (4,790)
Interstate 90 (39)
 J. E. Greiner Co. (19)
Navigable waterway (2,172)
Open (40,205)
Owned by city (5,712)
Span length 500-1000 feet (395)
Through truss (15,592)
Toll (172)
Total length 1000-2500 feet (1,913)
Truss (33,666)
Warren through truss (1,642)
Warren truss (6,725)

Update Log 

  • April 12, 2020: Updated by Nick Boppel: Simplify name
  • February 27, 2020: New photo from Jim Grey
  • November 5, 2019: Updated by Geoff Hubbs: added builder
  • October 8, 2013: New Street View added by J.P.
  • September 25, 2012: Updated by Steve Conro: Adjusted GPS, added Photo's
  • March 4, 2010: Updated by Robert Stephenson: Updated bridge design
  • November 7, 2008: New photo from Nathan Morton

Sources 

  • Nathan Morton - morton890 [at] yahoo [dot] com
  • HAER Chicago Skyway - Historic American Engineering Record report on the Skyway
  • Robert Stephenson - seinfeld99 [at] yahoo [dot] com
  • Steve Conro - sconro [at] yahoo [dot] com
  • J.P. - wildcatjon2000 [at] gmail [dot] com
  • Geoff Hubbs
  • Jim Grey - mobilene [at] gmail [dot] com
  • Nick Boppel - nickboppel01 [at] gmail [dot] com
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Comments 

Calumet River I-90 Skyway Bridge
Posted November 8, 2008, by J.R. Manning (thekitchenguy [at] sbcglobal [dot] net)

This is an awesome bridge but it is also awful to try to get a decent photo of. I've been trying to figure out a way to safely get photos of this monster for some time now. Bravo on your good start to get it documented!

The Skyway also has some most interesting plate girder structures that provide access and egress to surface streets. The structures reaffirm its construction in the late 1950's. They have all recently had work done on them during the Skyway rebuild project.

The Skyway is referred to as a "Toll Bridge" because the City of Chicago charter does not allow for the construction of toll roads. (The Toll Road Authority is a state operation.) The city IS, however, allowed to build Toll Bridges. The Skyway, then, is a Toll Bridge with 8 miles of approach spans. That's also why most people don't notice that once you're on the Skyway, there are no exits until after you've actually crossed the bridge and paid the toll!