Hacker News

Chasing Chicago's movable bridges (2014)

81 points by NaOH ago | 16 comments

codechicago277 |next [-]

Surprised the article doesn’t mention the McCormick Bridgehouse Museum. It’s something like $5, and you can see the inside of one of those bridges.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/eUXWfkm8LVuYMDsc7

bs7280 |root |parent [-]

You can go on bridge lift days during the fall + spring and see inside the engine room while the bridge goes up.

nkrisc |next |previous [-]

Great photos, many angles and views I haven’t seen myself. I used to have a desk in a corner overlooking the Congress expressway bridge (looking Southeast) and it was always fun to watch them halt traffic to open that one. I loved riding through the post office and over that bridge as a kid, usually on the way to the MSI.

I had a friend with a sailboat when I was young and though I did go sailing with his family sometimes, I wish I had the chance to ride with them while taking it past the bridges.

Another cool bridge to see is the disused rail bridge at the Northern tip of Goose Island. You can see it easily from North Ave. I passed by quite often as a kid and seeing the giant, concrete counterweight suspended up in the air always made me kind of nervous it would crash down as we were passing by.

thangalin |next |previous [-]

Canada's largest single-leaf bascule bridge, on Vancouver Island, is a remarkable and stunning piece of engineering.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnson_Street_Bridge

gwbas1c |next |previous [-]

I'm curious why the sailboats need to enter and leave once a year? Is it that they are drydocked over the winter?

davidjfelix |root |parent |next [-]

yes - the lake freezes.

I should also clarify. The sailboats in particular need the bridges raised which is why they have a scheduled time to exit. Ordinary boats can be removed closer to the water or navigate the river without the bridge being raised. Those boats are also removed for the winter.

Wonnk13 |root |parent |next |previous [-]

Chicago in February is indistinguishable from Hoth.

sophacles |root |parent [-]

Its not that warm in Chicago.

nkrisc |root |parent |next |previous [-]

Yes. The lake and river will typically freeze over for most of the winter. Any boat in the water would be smashed to bits by wind-blown ice.

trillic |root |parent |next |previous [-]

These particular sailboats are stored in the winter at either Chicago Yacht Works or the Canal Street Boat Yard.

stockresearcher |root |parent [-]

To expand: the Chicago Harbors close over the winter. You can do whatever you want with your boat, but you can’t keep it there.

Second, the Chicago River system is a navigable waterway according to federal law. The bridges must open for your boat to pass. But… there isn’t much in the way of a requirement about how long you have to wait. As a compromise, the city and the boat owners got together and designate opening times that are convenient enough, and then flotillas of boats get together to use the system at those times.

The bridges still open when large commercial vessels want them to, but that is increasingly rare as most river boats have their pilothouse on hydraulics - it raises for visibility in open space and lowers to go under the bridges.

Oh, and the Kinzie St bridge is not permanently open. It closes once a year for about 30 minutes while they drive a truck with train wheels over it. This maintains the status as an active rail line - Union Pacific doesn’t want to give up ownership of the right of way (which is legitimately valuable).

gwbas1c |root |parent [-]

Yeah, I was thinking that it would make more sense to drydock them closer to the lake, than to maintain drawbridges that are only used once a year.

Looks like the drawbridges run more frequently.

Wonnk13 |next |previous [-]

I don't know what it is about Chicago, but I find I have an insatiable curiosity about everything. I've never thought much about bridges, but when I'm in the loop I just stare at them sometimes. I love the architecture, the parks, the bike lanes it's just too bad it's in Illinois ha!

alehlopeh |previous [-]

In my city we have bridges like this that go up and down dozens of times a day.

trhway |root |parent |next [-]

One of such bridges in St. Petersburg in Russia is very close to the KGB/FSB regional headquarters (it is 2nd building right from the bridge, totally dominating the surroundings) and 15 years ago, when times in Russia were still softer, prankers drew a large male organ on the bridge right before the bridge was raised https://plucer.livejournal.com/265584.html right into the face of the KGB/FSB building.

According to some sources https://www.drive2.ru/b/288230376151944232/ it was even shortlisted in the national modern art competition. That were the times. Today in Russia even just thinking about it would get you 5 to 10 years for discreditation of the state organs.