Friday, December 28, 2007

This looks more serious than I had thought! The BNSF Railway Corwith Yard overpass bridge at West 47th Street and South Archer Ave. Chicago Illinois.

This is the overpass bridge at the intersection of West 47th Street and South Archer Avenue in Chicago's Brighton Park / Archer Heights neighborhoods. This bridge serves the South Hump of the former Atchinson, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad Corwith Yard, Now BNSF Railway.

In past years, this was an asthetically pleasing Concrete bridge with railings formed from the concrete. As time marched on, Tractor and Trailer Semi trucks became increasingly taller and began hitting the bridge and occasionally getting stuck under it. Chunks of concrete began falling off of the structure from the repeated trailer truck accidents, eventually exposing the steel support deck. In 1987, the old concrete railings were Jackhammered off for good and replaced with a chain link fence seen here. During the early 1990's, the city of Chicago lowered the street below the bridge for better clearance.

This is how the bridge looks today, with evidence of heavy damage and bent steel beams caused from many years of truck trailer Mis Haps.

This bridge may be posing a future safety hazzard at this location now.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

That looks absolutely TERRIBLE!
It's disgracefull!