Illinois Bridges Still Shitty

By Karl Klockars in News on Jul 31, 2008 6:27PM

We were biking over to Montrose Beach last weekend and crossed under LSD at Lawrence. We saw what seemed to be a new set of struts, supports and ironwork under there and thought, "Good. Someone's doing something about these bridges." (We were in Minneapolis a week before I-35W collapsed last year. Drove right over it. We pay attention to these things now.)

It would appear that we saw one of the handful of bridges they've worked on in the last 12 months, because CBS 2 is telling us that despite all the lip service paid to upgrading the state's bridges and infrastructure, ain't shit gettin' done.

Of the five busiest bridges with structural deficiencies, only one has been fixed – the Lake Shore Drive bridge over LaSalle Drive. The following four have not:

• The Stewart Avenue elevated section of the Dan Ryan Expressway;
• An elevated section of the Dan Ryan over the South Branch of the Chicago River;
• The Interstate 55 bridge over Lemont Road in Will County;
• A section of the bridge just before the Eisenhower Expressway turns into Congress Parkway.

In addition, 4,300 bridges statewide need attention, 17 percent of the state's bridges are ranked as in "poor condition," and the portion of the Stevenson over LSD is "is in worse shape than the bridge that collapsed in Minneapolis," so sayeth IDOT. But don't fret, citizenry!

"I am confident that the bridges are safe," says Chief Bridge Engineer Ralph Anderson. Whew. And we were starting to worry. Why aren't many getting fixed? Trucks are too heavy, not enough time, corrosion from snow and ice is a major factor, and the usual: construction costs are sky-high and there's just not enough damn money.

"splotched bridge post" from chloeloe.