Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railway, Calumet River Bridge, Spanning Calumet River, east of Chicago Skyway (I-90), Chicago, Cook County, IL

See also HAER IL-161 for additional documentation.

Significance: The Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railway's two parallel vertical-lift spans over the Calumet River (of which one survives), and two neighboring spans built for the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railway, are the largest multiple installation of Waddell and Harrington's patented design. Differences between the two pairs of bridges demonstrate disparity among American railroads' building codes, as well as Waddell and Harrington's refinement of the vertical-lift form. This site's many bridges built in close proximity is an artifact of intense competition among trunk lines entering Chicago from the east, and perhaps the greatest physical monument to the railroad capital of North America.

Unprocessed Field note material exists for this structure: N649

Unprocessed Field note material exists for this structure: N965

Survey number: HAER IL-156

Building/structure dates: 1912-1913 Initial Construction

Building/structure dates: 1965 Subsequent Work

railroad bridges vertical lift bridges truss bridges skew bridges railroad companies transportation chicago pittsburgh fort wayne railway chicago railway calumet bridge calumet river bridge calumet river skyway chicago skyway cook county illinois chicago department of transportation richard m daley eric n delony dravo contracting company john l harrington haven hawley historic american engineering record s l kaderbek kelly atkinson company jet lowe pennsylvania steel company hannah sears justin m spivey j a waddell thomas r walker photo ultra high resolution high resolution industrial history library of congress

1969 - 1980

Library of Congress

http://www.loc.gov/

No known restrictions on images made by the U.S. Government; images copied from other sources may be restricted. http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/res/114_habs.html