CNW - Kinzie Street Bridge (1908)
Photos
Historic Landmark
The 1908 C&NW bridge was the longest and heaviest in the world when it opened. The bridge originally carried freight and passenger traffic to the Wells Street Station. When the C&NW moved passenger service to their new passenger depot on the west shore of the river (today it is the Ogilvie Transporation Center) the bridge was used for freight only. The lines went all the way to Navy Pier. Using air rights, the Merchadise Mart was built on the site of the Wells Street Station, over the tracks that served the Merchandise Mart and continued through the enormous building. The last freight customer was the Chicago Sun-Times. The Union Pacfic absorbed the C&NW in 1995. The newspaper moved operations in 2001, leaving the UPRR with no customers east of the river, so the line was abandoned. The bridge remains in place, in the raised position, declared a Chicago Landmark on December 12, 2007.
Photo taken by J.R. Manning in May 2010
BH Photo #164986
Description
The 1908 C&NW bridge was the longest and heaviest in the world when it opened. The bridge originally carried freight and passenger traffic to the Wells Street Station. When the C&NW moved passenger service to their new passenger depot on the west shore of the river (today known as Ogilvie Transporation Center) the bridge was used for freight only. The lines went all the way to Navy Pier. Using air rights, the Merchandise Mart was built on the site of the Wells Street Station, over the tracks that continued through the enormous building. The last freight customer was the Chicago Sun-Times. The Union Pacfic absorbed the C&NW in 1995. The newspaper moved operations in 2001, leaving the UPRR with no customers east of the river, so the line was abandoned, and the bridge is usually kept in the raised position. The UPRR continues to keep the bridge in "active service" status by lowering it once per year for a "Hy-rail" truck to cross (photo #62 above), and to perform maintenance. It was declared a Chicago Landmark on December 12, 2007.This bascule bridge is similar to the very first Strauss bascule bridge constructed in Cleveland Ohio in 1905. The bascule bridge structure consists of the three main parts of the fixed tower, a rotating bascule leaf and the concrete counterweight that rotates independently from the span,the axis of the rotation the main trunnion is located halfway up the tower. The main trunnion is located in the truss upper chord, extending through the tower the truss has an inclined rear arm to support the counterweight. Parallel to this the link beam connects the top of the counterweight to the tower, those two elements remain parallel throughout the span's rotation. By a bold parallelogram as this span raises to a full open position, the counterweight passes between the rear arms of the truss a compact arrangement that does not require a tail pit. To prevent the span from opening further than 85 degrees the rear arms of the truss engages a wooden bumper on the tower motive power is provided by a pin at the top of the tower which engages the rack on the operating strut to raise or lower the span. (See diagram in photo #83 above, and also HAER link below)
Facts
- Overview
- Warren through truss bridge over North Branch Chicago River on Union Pacific Railroad
- Location
- Chicago, Cook County, Illinois
- Status
- Officially open to traffic; carries 1 UPRR "Hy-rail" truck annually
- Future prospects
- Has been considered for future use by Chicago Transit Authority.
- History
- Built 1908; Rail line abandoned ca. 2001; Declared Chicago Landmark 2007
- Builders
- - Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Co. of Oak Brook, Illinois
- Strauss Bascule Bridge Co. of Chicago, Illinois
- Toledo-Massillon Bridge Co. of Toledo, Ohio
- William H. Finley
- Railroads
- - Chicago & North Western Railway (CNW)
- Union Pacific Railroad (UP)
- Design
- Single leaf Strauss-type bascule bridge
- Dimensions
-
Length of largest span: 170.0 ft.
Total length: 196.0 ft.
- Also called
- North Branch Railroad Bridge
Kinzie Street Railroad Bridge
CNW - Wells Street Bridge
Carroll Avenue Bridge - Approximate latitude, longitude
- +41.88845, -87.63885 (decimal degrees)
41°53'18" N, 87°38'20" W (degrees°minutes'seconds") - Approximate UTM coordinates
- 16/446999/4637588 (zone/easting/northing)
- Quadrangle map:
- Chicago Loop
- Inventory number
- BH 45229 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Update Log
- September 17, 2022: New photo from Geoff Hubbs
- June 2, 2021: New photo from Douglas Butler
- July 18, 2018: New photos from John Marvig
- February 22, 2016: New photo from Douglas Butler
- February 15, 2016: Updated by Roger Deschner: Bridge is officially active, carrying one "Hy-rail" truck annually. Incorporated description from Photo #1 into main description.
- January 26, 2016: New photo from Douglas Butler
- November 25, 2015: New photos from Royce and Bobette Haley
- November 20, 2015: Updated by Luke: Reverted name back to CNW - Kinzie Street Bridge
- July 14, 2015: New photos from John Marvig
- May 20, 2015: New photo from Douglas Butler
- March 20, 2015: New photo from Douglas Butler
- February 18, 2015: New Street View added by Luke
- December 9, 2014: New photo from Douglas Butler
- October 29, 2014: New photo from Douglas Butler
- September 19, 2014: New photo from Douglas Butler
- August 1, 2014: New photo from Douglas Butler
- October 8, 2013: New Street View added by J.P.
- September 15, 2013: New photo from Douglas Butler
- March 26, 2012: Updated by Daniel Hopkins: Added category "Railroad"
- March 26, 2012: New photo from Steve Conro
- January 13, 2011: New photos from Eric Hanson
- May 11, 2010: Added by J.R. Manning
Related Bridges
- CNW - Kinzie Street Bridge (Old) (Predecessor)
Sources
- J.R. Manning - thekitchenguy [at] sbcglobal [dot] net
- Eric Hanson
- Steve Conro - sconro [at] yahoo [dot] com
- Douglas Butler
- J.P. - wildcatjon2000 [at] gmail [dot] com
- Luke
- Historicbridges.org - by Nathan Holth
- John Marvig - marvigj27 [at] gmail [dot] com
- Royce and Bobette Haley - roycehaley111 [at] yahoo [dot] com
- Roger Deschner - rogerdeschner [at] gmail [dot] com
- HAER Chicago and North Western Railway, Kinzie Street Bridge
- Wikipedia: Kinzie Street Railroad Bridge
- Geoff Hubbs
Comments
That "Anonymous" comment just now was me. I forgot to log in, and this happened, and now I can't undo it.
Nice podcast and transcript by the Bridge Boys about this bridge, with some good photos.
https://bridgeboyspod.com/2021/10/18/the-technically-still-a...
I like the suggestion that the City of Chicago could make these annual lowerings into a scheduled event/festival, perhaps coordinated through the McCormick Bridgehouse Museum and/or the Friends of the Chicago River.
Now that's amazing It would also be weird of the B&O 464 and 463 was back in operation in Cleveland, I had a dream about the heel trunnion B&O 463 and the Schezer type (B&O 464) back in operation. The dream was real also I dreamed about the CCCStL Strauss heel trunnion few years ago was rebuilt on the same location near the Lorain Carnegie Bridge.
The UP guys I talked to said they keep it working. They lower and maintain the bridge once a year. They had planned to connect this bridge to the CTA and use it had Chicago been awarded the Olympics.
Royce
I was able to find one article about the bridge, I guess they lower it once a year to keep it "active..."
http://wgnradio.com/2015/11/20/chicago-river-bridge-that-all...
I like to think I know a lot about Chicago bridges, but I wasn't aware of this... not sure how you know in advance the once-a-year operation is...
WHAT?!!! This bridge was DOWN????!!!! Unbelievable! If I had known that I would have made a trip over here JUST to see this HISTORIC moment... this is NOT I repeat NOT a normal operation!!!! And I just visited Chicago in January and the bridge was back in the Up Position with no evidence that anything had ever happened... in fact until seeing the comment here I had no clue it had even moved... or even was capable of moving! So whatever was going on here, I guess I missed it. Here is my photo from January 29th. There was construction activity near the bridge but it appeared to me to be exclusive to the massive building projects ongoing nearby.
This bridge was previously listed as abandoned, and left permanently in the raised position. However, Royce and Bobette Haley's photos taken in November 2015 show it in the down position, with construction workers on it. So something is going on here.
I am the last bridge-tender to operate this bridge. The operating panel clearly reads " WELLS ST. "
The railroad has always called this bridge the Kinzie Street Bridge, despite the fact it is actually located at Carroll Street.
The railroad calls it the "Wells Street Bridge". Named after the Wells St. Terminal.
This page's URL is http://bridgehunter.com/il/cook/bh45229/
Roger,
This was a good opportunity for me to experiment with the edit post button I have as an admin. I was able to edit your post so it shows your name.