This weekend the Brown Line of the CTA is shut down as they replace the next section of the Wells Street bridge. It is a big deal when they shut down the Brown Line since thousands of passengers ride that line each workday. This is the second shutdown of the Brown Line as part of this project. Since it was a beautiful Saturday I walked to the construction site to take photos with my Pentax K-01 recommended by Jonathan (who has far better photographic skills).
This view is looking East – you can see the new section that they will weld onto the bridge on a barge and it has a lighter coloration.
This view is looking North from the south side of the river. They have the portion of the old bridge that they plan to cut away “on blocks” on a barge.
Since the south side of the bridge is up you can clearly see the new train tracks and the “replaced” side of the bridge. Typically they only raise this bridge for brief periods (since it stops L traffic and car traffic) so this is a relatively rare photo.
They were still letting the water taxis pass through the small channel in the river between the barges supporting construction equipment and the portion of the bridge that they were cutting away. Those passengers probably got some great photos!
Here is a view looking West. You can see the discarded railway tracks in the “dumpster barge” on the side.
Cross posted at LITGM
Very cool. Interesting that they’re supporting the bridge segment on shipping containers.
Wow I didn’t notice that either. I hope they know what they are doing.
I really enjoyed the river tour of Chicago we took about ten years ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbkXZX5Qos0
Reminds me of Carl’s pic of kayakers on the Chgo River. This would be a fun area to paddle around on weekends.
You didn’t build that!