Canal Street Railroad Bridge

41.855638888889 - 87.637Koordinaten: 41 ° 51 ' 20.3 "N, 87 ° 38' 13.2 " W

F1

Railroad of the Pennsylvania Railroad

Chicago River

The Canal Street Railroad Bridge or Pennsylvania Railroad Bridge is a bascule bridge over the south branch of the Chicago River in Chicago, Illinois in the United States. When it was built, it was trading at 1500 ton main span to the heaviest lift bridge in the United States. It is the only bridge of this type over the Chicago River. On 12 December 2007 the building was designated as a Chicago Landmark.

Construction

The building was built for the Pennsylvania Railroad to replace a two-track swing bridge at the same location. The need, on the one hand continue to use the existing bridge at the time of the new building and on the other hand not to impede navigation on the river, the construction made ​​complicated. The solution lay in the fact that you built the new building with the main span in its raised position and tore the old bridge when the new building was finished. The construction was designed by Waddell & Harrington, made ​​and erected was the construction of the Pennsylvania Steel Company.

The construction of the south tower began on 4 September 1913. After both towers had reached the height of 56.4 m, a falsework was erected to build the skin margin in high positions, 39.6 m above the river.

Operation

The bridge carries two tracks of a railway line on the Chicago River and crosses this at a height of about 12 m above the water level. The main span was lifted within 45 seconds to a height of 34 m to allow the passage of ships.

1916 sailed around 300 daily trains the bridge, which was raised every day about 75 times.