Adams Street Bridge

The Chicago River splits the City of Chicago, which has required numerous bridges to be constructed, and most of them are them are bascule bridges (Chicago Department of Transportation currently maintains and operates 37 movable bridges). One of these bridges is the Adams Street Bridge. It was built in 1927 and is the fourth documented bridge at this site. The bridge originally carried both directions of Route 66, but in 1955, Route 66 was bifurcated. The Adams Street Bridge now carriers Westbound Traffic, and the Jackson Boulevard Bridge carries the Eastbound traffic.

The first documented bridge at this site was built in 1869, and was a hand-turned iron/wood combination bridge. It was destroyed in the Great Fire of 1871. A new bridge was constructed in 1872. It was a hand-turned iron swing bridge. In 1883, a schooner being towed down the river collided with the masonry abutment of the bridge, which caused the bridge to collapse. The bridge wasn’t replaced until 1889, when a swing bridge was constructed. This bridge shifted the swing pier from the middle of the river to the west side, which provided a larger clear stream for vessels. The current bascule bridge was built in 1927, and provides a much larger clear opening than any of the previous bridges.

The Adams Street Bridge is one of the few bascule bridges in Chicago that is a true deck truss. Most of the other bridges have railing height trusses, which gives them characteristics of both a deck truss and a pony truss. The bridge also has limestone clad bridge tender houses, which was common on bridges built in this era.

This bridge was constructed in a very congestion area, which required the contractors to work around a railroad on the west side and buildings on the east side. This required that the details for the trunnion and counterweight pit to be different on each end, which is not typical.

The sidewalk decks were replaced in 2012. The previous sidewalks were reinforced concrete. However, the new sidewalks utilized a lightweight fiberglass material which was becoming popular on the Chicago bridges.