Chicago's Movable Bridges | The history of Bascule Bridges
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- čas přidán 6. 01. 2023
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A bascule bridge (also referred to as a drawbridge or a lifting bridge) is a moveable bridge with a counterweight that continuously balances a span, or leaf, throughout its upward swing to provide clearance for boat traffic. It may be single- or double-leafed. The name comes from the French term for balance scale, which employs the same principle. Bascule bridges are the most common type of movable span because they open quickly and require relatively little energy to operate, while providing the possibility for unlimited vertical clearance for marine traffic.
Chapters:
02:03 Why Chicago Needed Bridges
03:19 How shipping canals transformed Chicago’s waterway
05:30 Chicago’s First movable bridge
06:56 Chicago’s fist swinging bridge (Rush Street Bridge)
07:38 Chicago’s first vertical lift bridge
07:59 Chicago bascule bridges
09:07 Van Buren Street bridge history
10:41 How Chicago’s bridges changed road traffic (A)
11:40 Chicago’s Track lift bridges
12:19 The Largest Bascule bridge in the world - The CTT Railroad bridge
13:05 Michigan avenue DuSable bridge
14:51 Why Chicago has the best bridges on earth
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IT’S HISTORY - Weekly tales of American Urban Decay as presented by your host Ryan Socash.
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» CREDIT
Scriptwriter - Brent Sapp
Editor - Patrycja Klimczuk
Host - Ryan Socash
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» NOTICE
Some images may be used for illustrative purposes only - always reflecting the accurate time frame and content. Events of factual error / mispronounced word/spelling mistakes - retractions will be published in this section.
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That last Boat the Wendella, I got hammered drunk on, We we parked by Lake Point Towers getting hammered and the boat tender invited us on and said he had 2 kegs that were about half full he "Had to empty tonight". We were glad to help until dawn.
Awesome
That's too funny. My adult son and I took the Wendella Architectural cruise this past summer and it was awesome. Had a perfect summer day and crew! It's well worth the $$. btw, I was born here in '58 and still here :)
Lol
I used to be a helper on a beer truck and delivered to all those boats that do the river tours... It was fun but hard work, all kegs. Was strong as hell at that time lol
There's no drunk like a hammered drunk!
I just finished the Lake Shore Drive drawbridge. I'm a Union Millwright so I worked on all of the mechanical stuff
i love all the chicago videos you have done. born in downtown chicago near the lakefront, i appreciate the time and respect you put into these videos.
The railway bridge over Trollhätte Kanal here in Vänersborg, Sweden, is said to be built in 1914 with Scherzer’s Chicago bridge in mind. It is also called the German Bridge.
Thanks for another fascinating story about my favorite US city.
Fascinating -- thanks for posting. Minor quibble: the bascule bridge pictured at 7:55-7:58 is not a Scherzer. It's a Strauss Heel Trunnion, invented by another Chicago bridge designer, Joseph Strauss, who also designed San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge. The vertical lift type (with two vertical towers) was invented by a third prominent bridge designer, J.A.L. Waddell. Scherzer Rolling Lift bridges require a long, strong foundation to bear the shifting weight of the load, which steadily moves away from the waterway as the bridge leaf rises.
@Douglas Butler Douglas Butler, I'm an admirer of your artistic, accurate drawings. You honor me with your comment.
I love your videos. As a Chicagoan, I learned a lot. The faceless statue for example. Thanks!
I don't know why, but there is just something wonderful about seeing moving bridges, be they the bascule tilting, rotating or lift style, operating. On the Union Canal in the heart of Edinburgh, there is a tiny wee steel lift bridge, which was neglected for years, but fortunately now restored and working again. There's a simple pleasure in watching it operating to let boats and barges cruise under it.
Thanks for the fascinating story of Chicago bridge infrastructure. At one time, nothing was impossible for Chicago!
I live in Milwaukee and we've got the same thing downtown, bridges the either lift or open on every single street just west of water street. Since Milwaukee is generally considered a small city in comparison to Chicago were often ignored when it comes to our citys engineering and architecture.
noted is the glaring omission of the bridge jump in the blues brothers film.
liked the video, but I wish you had added the south east side bridges that made industry work and supported the cities future.
Worked at the Jewel for 10 yrs.over on 106th.Spent a few hrs.taking pics of those wonderful bridges on 91st,95th( the Blue's Brothers Bridge),101st, & 106th(The Johnny Depp Bridge)- where the famous Arthur Andersen still docks( the only ship that went out trying to save the Edmund Fitzgerald).
Working in downtown Chitown was a pleasure, especially when the bridges were raised. ❤
Thanks for these vids!👍👍
I just want to say as a born and raised Chicagoan, thank you for correctly pronouncing Throop street.
@0:54 Love those iconic "Corn cob" buildings.
Marina Towers. Also known locally (by some) as the "George Jetson buildings." 😁👍
I know a few people who live in them. They are surprisingly affordable, especially when compared to other US cities like New York City or San Francisco. For such an iconic building located in the heart of downtown, you can get a one bedroom with a great view of the river for $2K. In NYC, a similar unit will cost you at least three times as much.
I cannot believe that you could have a story on the Chicago Bascule Bridges without mentioning the Medusa Challenger which was a Cement Freighter. Every time that it went through in the 1970's & 80's the bridges would malfunction and be stuck in the upright position causing traffic chaos. Many thought the ship was jinxed.
Thanks for teaching me this bit of info
My wife and I enjoy all your videos. You do a great job with basic history overviews of many subjects. Prior to putting this video together, however, it would have been wise to check with some of the engineers at the Chicago DPW and/or with consulting engineer firms such as HNTB Corporation, Parsons Brinkerhoff, CTE, etc., who provide condition inspections and designs for rehabilitation of these old bridges when needed, as you missed an important point -- one that is easily missed by not doing so. There are major differences between a Chicago Type Trunnion Bascule Bridge, which pivots around large diameter trunnion shafts located at fixed points on each shore (truly similar to a seesaw), and a Scherzer Rolling Lift Type Bascule Bridge which actually rolls back away from the river on large tracks and treads as it lifts (hence the name, rolling lift). They are not the same. The rolling lift bridge provides more clearance for navigation than the trunnion bascule bridge type can, and the rolling lift type remains a viable movable bridge design today, as do various types of trunnion bascule bridges. However, the early Scherzer rolling lift bridges had serious structural issues that were not overcome for a couple decades. This led the City of Chicago to develop the Chicago Type Trunnion Bascule, with assistance from Ralph Modjeski and others, in the first decade of the 1900s, and they established it as their standard. All Chicago bascule bridges designed and built for the Chicago DPW over the past 120 years or so have therefore been Chicago Type Trunnion Bascules, not Scherzer Rolling Lift bascules.
Bender was known in the 1840s for his futuristic suits and ties.
I was going to say something similar but thought I better go thru the comments first. That photographer did a heck of a job also for the 1840's.
Illinoian all my life until 2 1/2 years ago. Now Long Islander. I need to make a trip back to visit. Maybe for St. Pats to see the canal green. It's actually one of the safer parts of Chitown.
Needed to show Jake and Elwood doing the Dukes of Hazard jump over one of those bridges in the Blues Brothers.
Sorry to be the internet corrections guy, but in the movie The Blues Brothers, they didn't jump any of the bridges in downtown Chicago that span the Chicago River, as shown in this video. They jumped the 95th Street Bridge over the Calumet River, about 20 miles south of there near the Indiana border.
I've been inside the DuSable bridge. It was cool seeing how huge the counter weight is.
There is some really cool FPV drone dives of the balance bridges
According to the book, "Artist in Concrete and Steel (Bridges of Ralph Modjeski)," by Jan S. Plachta, "The typical "Chicago style" bridge is a "fixed trunnion bascule" type with counterweight and a horizontal axis around which the span rotated. In May 1902, on Cortland Street in Chicago, the first trunnion bascule bridge went into service (the first bridge of this type in the United States)."
Living in Minnesota now, i don't miss all the drawbridges in the Chicagoland area. The only times that i might have to deal with them is when I'm visiting down there and it's mostly the ones around Joliet that i might get stopped by.
CTT - Chicago Terminal Transfer Railroad, which became Baltimore & Ohio Chicago Terminal Railroad. The picture and narration depict Central California Traction, a Stockton CA area independent electric street railway. CCT was purchased in the 1920s by predecessors of BNSF and UP.
Kind of a bummer that outside the downtown area you can see some bridges that use to be bascule or lift bridges. Wish they remained the bridges the once were. But then again boat traffic isn't as big as before thru here.
The Photo used in this presentation for major George Bender is not accurate.
Would be interesting to hear about the deadly fire a few hundred miles north, on the same night as the Chicago Fire
Peshtigo Fire up by Lake Minoqua
@@daniellinehan63 A couple of things about Peshtigo and the fire...
• Peshtigo, WI is located on the Peshtigo River in Marinette County (about 110 miles from Minocqua).
• The Peshtigo Fire started the same day as the Great Chicago Fire, October 8, 1871.
• The Peshtigo fire burned approximately 1.2 million acres and an estimated 1,500 to 2,500 persons perished (numbers are estimated due to the large area of the fire and the fact that some victims were unidentified and/or buried in mass-graves).
• The Peshtigo fire is the deadliest wildfire in recorded history. ☮️
Even if you're not a train guy, you have to admit those old B&O F units are beautiful
I live in Chicago and bascule bridges are amazing.
I had no idea these bridges could raise! 👍 Great job I always enjoy your videos.
I must say I really appreciate this sponsor yougov. I’m excited to try it. Thank you for the excellent content! Keep up the great work!
I just finished working on the Lake Shore Drive drawbridge and I was part of the spring and fall bridge lifts. I set all the motors on the north leaf almost by myself in 2022. As it is a great site to see these marvels in operation most of the public is in such a hurry that they complain and honk being impatient.
Just love your videos ,, and Happy New Year
Thank you! Happy new year to you!
Awesome I enjoy learning more history about my city seeing some of these old railroad bridges not in use anymore wish I could have seen the old General Motors EMD F-Units and other locomotives crossing. You should do a history on the U.S. Steel Company in Chicago.
Cool video😎
My kinda town ❤️
A Chicago bridges video without a mention of the Medusa Challenger? Shocking. 😊
I remember the S.S. Medusa Challenger, great lakes freighter passing through the Chicago River looking down from the IBM Building back in the late 1970s. Yeah, it held up local downtown traffic for a while.
since you're doing videos about chicago, could you do a video about METRA highliners that were retired and how they played an important part in chicago?
Was watching It's History's video on a hospital lobby, when the loud intro jingle played, I woke up 10 patients that were in coma
Please tell me you mentioned the bridge from that scene in the Blues' Brothers movie. I'm 13 minutes in, but maybe I missed it? Otherwise, that's what we think of whenever anyone talks about bridges in Chicago.
What does the Central California Traction Company and Union Pacific have to do with Chicago? CCT ever owned tracks in Chicago (operated between Stockton and Sacramento), and UP only went as far west as Omaha until 1996.
Why did the Chicago bridge cross the river? To get to the other side.
A properly equipped Bluesmobile can jump an opening drawbridge. It will need a new lighter.
And some new cop tires
@@daniellinehan63 Made before catalytic converters so it'll run good on regular gas.
So can General Lee
@@lawrencebraun7616 I don't doubt it, but the General would never go that far north.
Nothing about the blues Brothers jumping the bridge? Awe
❤
PLEASE lower the volume on your intro music. With ear plugs, you melt earwax. Thx, and keep,up the good work.
"We paid for the new channel icon from making money of yougov" Wow that icon looks expensive! 😉
The Bridge Abides
There is some really cool FPV drone dives of the bascule bridges on CZcams
The actual first day of the 20th Century was January 1, 1901, not 1900. The year 1900 was the last year of the 19th Century.
Vox videos feel more cinematic due to all the music and all.
Along with the Great Fire, cows loved causing damage in Chicago it seems. Nearly as much damage as the Chicago Bulls did to opposing NBA teams in the 90s. Ehhhh? No? Okay fair enough..
@5:55... NOT passer-by-ers!!! rather passers-by... you can do better, Ryan ;)
Also "laborious" not "laborous"
@@perkinscurry8665 i wasn't sure if that was an american thing...
I struggled to keep track as this story jumped from bridge to bridge without any clear delineation, narration just keeps going into the next portion without any natural break
You could always make your own video and get it right.
OK... I'll bite... What is the situation with the cows?
The thumbnail shows a huge ore carrier. Would have never fit, so why paste it in the photo?
Ships hat size di pass through - actual picture, not pasted in.
Proverbs 12:1
I just love when they raise the bridges to keep the looters at bay.
Wat about the mob...
The photo of Bender is at least 100 years newer than the period you are describing. This is sloppy work and should have been obvious in that he is wearing 20th century clothes.
THERE ARE NO SUCH WORDS AS “PASSERBYERS” and “LABOROUS”. Try “Passersby” and “Laborious”.
let us not forget the 2004 dave matthews incident on the Kinzie street bridge
CHICONGO