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Dearborn Street Bridge |
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| Key Facts |
| Bridge Name | Facility Carried / Feature Intersected | Location | Structure Type | Construction Date and Builder/Engineer | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Dearborn Street Bridge
| Dearborn Street Over Chicago River | Chicago: Cook County, Illinois | Metal Rivet-Connected Pratt Railing Height Truss, Movable: Bascule (Fixed Trunnion) and Approach Spans: Metal Stringer (Multi-Beam), Fixed | 1963 By Builder/Contractor: American Bridge Company of New York, New York and Engineer/Design: City of Chicago |
| Technical Facts |
| Rehabilitation Date | Main Span Length | Structure Length | Roadway Width | Main Spans | Approach Spans | NBI Number |
| 2006 | 235 Feet (71.6 Meters) | 341 Feet (104 Meters) | 56 Feet (17.1 Meters) | 1 | 4 | 16601427333 |
Looking at this bridge you might not guess that this is
one of Chicago's newer bridges, with a 1963 construction date. Having a truss
construction, complete with rivets and built-up beams with lattice and v-lacing,
it certainly does not look like a 1960s bridge. V-lacing was not commonly used
by this time, and rivets were beginning to fall to bolts in bridge construction
as well. The bridgetender building, which is much more simple in appearance than
the ornate towers for many of the older Chicago bridges, is the only hint
that this bridge is newer. The reality is that Chicago's unique deck truss
design which raised the truss up above the deck slightly like a pony truss
worked so well and was also seen as an aesthetically pleasing design that the
city used it for a period of over 40 years of bridge building. Indeed, this 1963
bridge's trusses are very similar to the bridges of this style built in the
1920s. Compare this bridge to the nearby
Wabash Avenue
Bridge, constructed three decades earlier, in 1930.
    Above: The previous bridge at this location was a Scherzer Rolling Lift bascule bridge. Frank Montgomery and Company was a company run by Frank M. Montgomery, who was an engineer and contractor who worked under Scherzer Rolling Lift Bridge Company to builder Scherzer bridges in the Chicago area, including the Dearborn Street Bridge. |
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Main Plaque N. DEARBORN STREET BRIDGEFOURTH AT THIS SITE 1963 CITY OF CHICAGO RICHARD J. DALEY MAYOR GEORGE L. DEMENT Commissioner of Public Works DICK VAN GORP Chief Engineer STEPHEN J. MICHUDA Chief Bridge Engineer
EDW. KLAUSNER Engineer of Bridge Constr. |
First Movable Bridge Plaque CHICAGO'S FIRST MOVABLE BRIDGE WAS CONSTRUCTED ATTHIS SITE IN 1834. THE TIMBER SPAN PROVIDED ONLY A 60 FOOT OPENING FOR THE PASSAGE OF VESSELS. SO DANGEROUS TO SHIPS WAS THIS NARROW DRAW, THAT THE BRIDGE WAS ORDERED REMOVED BY THE COUNCIL IN 1839. THE PRESENT BRIDGE IS THE FOURTH AT THIS SITE. |
AISC Plaque MOST BEAUTIFUL STEEL BRIDGEMOVABLE SPAN Presented by AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF STEEL CONSTRUCTION 1963-1964 |
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