Chicagoist: North Avenue, In Suspense

ghostinthemachine

Fri, 21 Dec 2007 22:54:11 -0600

Actually this image is facing west. The north side of the bridge is done, complete with neat looking guard rails. The south side is still lacking rails. I was just a few minutes late for work, hehe! Too busy taking pics! Rich

ghostinthemachine

Fri, 21 Dec 2007 22:53:53 -0600

Actually this iamge is facing west. The north side of the bridge is done, complete with neat looking guard rails. The south side is still lacking rails. I was just a few minutes late for work, hehe! Too busy taking pics! Rich

spookhatespuppies

Fri, 21 Dec 2007 14:52:47 -0600

@quint: It does look totally different from the concept sketch I saw on this site when the construction began. But up close, I thought it looked sort of "futuristic". Maybe in the future, everything is clunky. Like personal jetpacks, for instance.

quint

Fri, 21 Dec 2007 14:20:47 -0600

@Dave: what you are seeing in the picture is the new east bound lanes and the divider in the middle of the bridge. Temporary striping has been painted to allow traffic in both directions. The permanent west bound lanes aren't yet open (this all assumes that the picture is in fact looking east). Am I the only one who thought it was going to look better than it does? It looks kind of clunky to me, and not in the 100 year old bascule bridge cool looking clunky.

Doro

Fri, 21 Dec 2007 13:49:19 -0600

I've always been wondering what was up with that bridge! I can't wait for the bike lanes...

kookybites

Fri, 21 Dec 2007 13:44:39 -0600

I'm pleasantly surprised this got done so quickly... as much as I enjoyed driving and biking over that rickedy temporary bridge... but traffic in the North/Sheffield area will continue to be terrible.

dave

Fri, 21 Dec 2007 13:43:42 -0600

Judging by the picture, it's a two-lane bridge. So, no. No it won't.

chloe_pb

Fri, 21 Dec 2007 13:42:59 -0600

It actually opened to traffic yesterday afternoon. I go over that bridge eastbound every night on the bus, and I noticed that the usual heart-dropping-to-stomach-because-of-swerve-of-death was missing from my commute. I looked up and noticed we were passing over the lovely and colorful new bridge. Sweet! I won't miss the thrill ride as the bus took the curve on the temporary bridge at full speed.

chloe_pb

Fri, 21 Dec 2007 13:42:51 -0600

mike_thoms

Fri, 21 Dec 2007 13:39:44 -0600

the most important question is, will the new bridge alleviate the massive congestion of Chicago's newest neighborhood, Cluster Fuck Gardens?

dave

Fri, 21 Dec 2007 13:36:34 -0600

It's about time--that temporary bridge was starting to look a little ragged ... expansion joints popping up, chunks of asphalt missing, etc. But what do I know? I'm about the furthest thing from an engineer one can be. I tried to build an Erector set bridge once, and people--actual people--died in its collapse. Anyway, that new bridge is really nice-looking.

Laura Oppenheimer

Fri, 21 Dec 2007 13:28:11 -0600

Mike_thoms - I've always wondered that too. Spooky.

spookhatespuppies

Fri, 21 Dec 2007 13:27:45 -0600

@Mike Thoms Because a temporary bridge that meets the needs of 12-18 months would be really easy to slap up and patch if needed. But one that is meant to stand for 75-100 years would require a lot more work rooting in place, a lot more concrete, and is meant to meet more standards and specs that a simple tear-away bridge would. And they were building the temp bridge parallel to the old bridge for some time (like a month or so). I'm more surprised at how quick they got the new bridge up.

johan

Fri, 21 Dec 2007 13:27:20 -0600

I was thinking the exact same thing as #2. It seems like it's taken a really loooong time to finish that thing. And it was making me start to wonder just how much longer the temp would be considered safe.

mike_thoms

Fri, 21 Dec 2007 13:11:30 -0600

the most amazing part to me was how quickly they built the temporary bridge. Although it also concerned me that a bridge went up so quickly and was driven over for a year and a half. How can it take so long to build one bridge and only a small amount of time to build another?

spookhatespuppies

Fri, 21 Dec 2007 12:57:34 -0600

I remember how I built a huge suspension bridge out of popsicle sticks for a fifth grade science fair (screw you science! all hail engineers as your new god!!!). And now, every time I see a suspension bridge, I get a little giddy inside. Couple that with the fact I live right down the street from this thing and will cross it several times a week, and its awesome architectural design, and I'm just geeking out like any bridge dork would...