St. Charles Air Line Bridge, Spanning South Branch of Chicago River, north of Sixteenth Street, Chicago, Cook County, IL

Significance: Like all Strauss heel-trunnion bascule bridges, the St. Charles Air Line Bridge rotates vertically, lifting to clear the river it spans. This particular bridge is unique, however, in that its design anticipated a one-time horizontal movement - to a new, straighter channel of the Chicago River. Its original 260'-0" leaf exceeded the previous world record by 30'-0", but was shortened by 40'-0" during the move. The bridge represents Strauss' first use of air-buffered pistons on the operating struts. It is also significant for the railroad it carries, an unusual "gentlemen's agreement" between four of Chicago's earliest railroads.

Unprocessed Field note material exists for this structure: N650

Unprocessed Field note material exists for this structure: N966

Survey number: HAER IL-157

Building/structure dates: 1917-1919 Initial Construction

Building/structure dates: 1930 Subsequent Work

railroad bridges bascule bridges truss bridges railroad companies moving of structures transportation chicago charles air line bridge charles air line bridge south branch chicago river sixteenth sixteenth street cook county illinois american bridge company chicago department of transportation richard m daley eric n delony e j albrecht company ferro construction company foundation company historic american engineering record s l kaderbek jet lowe hannah sears justin m spivey strauss bascule bridge company joseph baerman strauss strobel steel construction company thomas r walker photo ultra high resolution high resolution detroit publishing company photograph collection library of congress

1969 - 1980

Library of Congress

http://www.loc.gov/

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