Fox River Trail - LaFox River Drive Overpass
Description
Old Chicago & Northwestern Railway bridge converted to trail use. Not sure when it was abandoned. A local who was nearby when I was shooting pictures said "there hadn't been a train across it in 30 years".Facts
- Overview
- Pony/through plate girder bridge over LaFox River Drive on Fox River Bike Trail
- Location
- Algonquin, McHenry County, Illinois
- Status
- Replaced by a MOB
- History
- Built 1929
- Builder
- - American Bridge Co. of New York
- Railroads
- - Chicago & North Western Railway (CNW)
- Rail-to-trail
- Design
- Pony plate girder
- Dimensions
-
Span length: 50.0 ft.
Total length: 50.0 ft.
- Approximate latitude, longitude
- +42.16238, -88.29425 (decimal degrees)
42°09'45" N, 88°17'39" W (degrees°minutes'seconds") - Approximate UTM coordinates
- 16/393085/4668615 (zone/easting/northing)
- Quadrangle map:
- Crystal Lake
- Inventory number
- BH 51261 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Update Log
- August 20, 2020: Updated by Tyler: Replaced
- August 21, 2015: New photos from John Marvig
- August 1, 2015: Updated by John Marvig: Added information
- July 31, 2015: Updated by Luke: Added builder via John
- February 10, 2012: Updated by Steve Conro: Added categories "Chicago & North Western Railway", "Rail-to-trail"
Sources
- Steve Conro - sconro [at] yahoo [dot] com
- Luke
- John Marvig - marvigj27 [at] gmail [dot] com
- Tyler
Comments
"elegant pedestrian bridge"....wow. Not that this was a significant bridge, but what a waste of money. I'm guessing that it has to do with the clearance of the old bridge.
Sad that they can find the money for a MOB, but nobody can seem to find the money or answers to get this one a home:
Replaced by a MOB: abutments and all. Waste of money and the many months that the trail has been closed so far.
Last train between Elgin and Crystal Lake was 4/14/83
The Lake Geneva Wi to Elgin Il C&NW line was abandoned in stages from the late 70's to the late 80's/early 90's.
That segment was about 85/86 from the north end of Elgin to Crystal Lake with the downtown Elgin tracks coming up last and the segment from Richmond to Lake Geneva being the late 70's and the Ringwood (current end of track) to Richmond coming up a few years later.
This page's URL is http://bridgehunter.com/il/mchenry/bh51261/
Wow, a lot of stupidity today. You are saying they demolished and replaced this bridge, designed for TRAINS... with a MOB.... umm... why??? If the bridge clearance was too low the solution is simple, jack the bridge up. Whoever made this decision DOESN'T KNOW JACK!