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This is an extremely rare presentation of a tower style continuous through truss as a pedestrian footbridge. Lengths given are extremely rough estimates. The bridge has been poorly maintained despite its historic significance: The bridge requires painting, and someone thought (wrongly) that it would be a good idea to encase the bottoms of the endposts in concrete, a horrible alteration that fails to repair underlying end post deterioration, while only further trapping moisture and leading to deterioration. This bridge should immediately be fully restorerd for continued pedestrian use.
Despite the bridge's unusual design, very little information was available about it. Some research into local newspapers indicated that this area of railroad tracks was depressed through the park as part of a large project that included new bridges/viaducts at Lindell-Union Blvds and at Grand Drive, both of which are near this bridge. Reference was also made to a "separate foot bridge for pedestrians in the park" as being included in a contract let to R. J. Blackburn Inc. in July of 1930. Another article which was worded oddly and appeared to be confusing a concrete highway bridge to carry Grand Drive over the tracks and a pedestrian bridge stated the bridge (presumably the foot bridge) was 100 feet long. This is close to the estimated length of the bridge. A September 1932 article indicated that the project had been completed last summer. Therefore, the best available information found by HistoricBridges.org appears to suggest the bridge was built ca. 1931 by R. J. Blackburn Inc. as part of a grade crossing elimination project that involved depressing the tracks of the Wabash and Rock Island tracks in Forest Park.
This bridge is tagged with the following special condition(s): Unorganized Photos
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