Rating:
3 votes

Aulwurm Drive Bridge

Cook County, Illinois

Photos 

View across bridge from north

Photo taken by Roger Deschner in August 2013

License: Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike (CC BY-SA)

Enlarge

BH Photo #261760

Map 

Street View 

Description 

Four span Warren pony truss bridge, has distinctive rolled top chord, now bent out of shape. Closed to traffic some time ago, abandoned, and ravaged by thieves stealing metal members of the bridge itself, the southernmost span has collapsed. It is remarkable the rest of it has not collapsed yet, which would appear to be an imminent possibility.

Facts 

Overview
Abandoned warren pony truss bridge over Little Calumet River on Aulwurm Drive
Location
Blue Island, Cook County, Illinois
Status
Derelict/abandoned
Future prospects
Rehabilitation for fishing, bicycle, and pedestrian use proposed in "Blue Island Active Transportation Plan". However, this derelict structure may collapse under its own weight or the weight of fallen snow before that plan can be funded.
Design
Warren pony truss with alternating verticals
Also called
Blue Bridge
Approximate latitude, longitude
+41.64956, -87.66795   (decimal degrees)
41°38'58" N, 87°40'05" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates
16/444379/4611083 (zone/easting/northing)
Quadrangle map:
Blue Island
Inventory number
BH 57456 (Bridgehunter.com ID)

Categories 

Abandoned (4,010)
Blue Island, Illinois (7)
Cook County, Illinois (502)
Have street view (30,410)
Illinois (5,072)
Owned by county (22,000)
Painted blue (83)
 Pony truss (17,550)
Riveted (2,776)
Truss (38,311)
Warren pony truss (3,629)
Warren pony truss with alternating verticals (828)
Warren truss (7,181)
Wooden deck (6,261)

Update Log 

  • January 19, 2021: New photos from James McCray
  • August 4, 2013: Updated by Roger Deschner: Added category "Painted blue"

Sources 

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Comments 

Aulwurm Drive Bridge - amazingly it is still there
Posted July 31, 2022, by Bing Owensq (bingowens [at] yahoo [dot] com)

Went for a visit today and yes the Aulwurm Drive Bridge is still there...great find...I can only hope someone will revive this bridge before snow or flooding knocks it down.

Aulwurm Drive Bridge
Posted November 9, 2018, by Lee Jones (asiwalkbyfaith [at] gmail [dot] com)

My friends and I used to drive over this bridge in the late 1970s. Even then, It would creak and bounce. They piled a load of rock there so you cant druve over it but you could walk part of it. Bad neighborhood now though.