26-Oct-18 – After 104 years of service, the Chicago Avenue Bridge will be demolished and replaced, starting on November 1.

A spokesperson for Chicago Department of Transportation declined to comment on whether anyone took the city up on its offer to give the bridge away for free. The new owner would have had to remove the bridge at his or her expense.

Chicago Avenue will close between Larrabee Street at the east end and Halsted Street at the west end starting at 5:00 a.m. on November 1. The roadway over an interim bridge will re-open “early next year,” according to CDOT. A permanent concrete and steel structure will be in place in 2021.

(Above) How loss for a few months of the Chicago Avenue Bridge will affect local traffic. Pedestrians, bicycles, buses, and other local traffic traveling west on Chicago Avenue will turn right onto Larrabee, left onto Division, left onto Halsted, and right onto Chicago. (Click on image to view larger version.)

Traffic detours will include the #66 bus route, which will temporarily share a curbside lane with bicycles along Halsted Street between Chicago Avenue and Division Street. Parking along that stretch will be restricted to accommodate the lane.

Bridge built to cover never-constructed subway tunnel

The current bridge at Chicago Avenue, a pony truss bascule bridge, opened to traffic in 1914. It was one of the first of the Chicago River bridges to have an operator house made of concrete and not wood. According to a 1911 report by Chicago Department of Public Works, the city intended to eventually build a subway under Chicago Avenue, and so the Chicago Avenue Bridge was specially designed to accommodate future construction of a double subway tunnel.

Today, with its rusted surfaces, broken lights, and loose wire, the bridge has suffered from lack of regular maintenance, according to Preservation Chicago.

The bridge needs to be entirely replaced, says CDOT, “to maintain and support the volume of vehicle, bus, bicycle and pedestrian traffic in this active corridor.”