HISTORIC AMERICAN ENGINEERING RECORD

LAKE SHORE & MICHIGAN SOUTHERN RAILWAY, BRIDGE No. 6
(New York Central Railroad, Calumet River Bridge)

HAER No. IL-161

Location:

 Spanning Calumet River, E. of Chicago Skyway (I-90), Chicago, Cook County, Illinois.
USGS Quadrangle:

 Lake Calumet, Illinois-Indiana (7.5-minute series).
UTM Coordinates:

 16/454820/4618600
Dates of Construction:

 1912-1915.
Designer:

 Waddell and Harrington, Consulting Engineers (Kansas City, Missouri).
Fabricator:

 Unknown.
Builder:

 Dravo Contracting Co. (Pittsburgh), substructure; superstructure contractor unknown.
Present Owner:

 Norfolk Southern Railroad (Atlanta, Georgia).
Present Use:

 Railroad bridge (out of service).
Significance:

 The Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railway's two parallel vertical-lift spans over the Calumet River, and two neighboring spans built by the Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railway (of which one survives), 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.
  See "Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railway, Calumet River Bridge," HAER No. IL-156, for a complete historical report.
Project Description:

 The Chicago Bridges Recording Project was sponsored during the summer of 1999 by HABS/HAER under the general direction of E. Blaine Cliver, Chief; the City of Chicago, Richard M. Daley, Mayor; the Chicago Department of Transportation, Thomas R. Walker, Commissioner, and S. L. Kaderbek, Chief Engineer, Bureau of Bridges and Transit. The field work, measured drawings, historical reports, and photographs were prepared under the direction of Eric N. DeLony, Chief of HAER.