Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Madison Street Bridge

Built: 1923
Thomas Pihlfeldt, engineer
Clarence Rowe, engineer
(rehabbed, 1994)

This may be the busiest bridge downtown, since both Union Station and Ogilvie Station let out onto Madison west of the Chicago River. The bridge houses are almost identical to Wells but the real difference is the bridge structure. What it loses in drama it makes up in unobstructed views to the north and south.

You wouldn't think the narrow sidewalks would accommodate a guy drumming on big plastic buckets every day during rush hour, but you'd be wrong.

1 comment:

  1. The Madison bridge used to have those "bumps" on it. It looked similar to LaSalle.
    Some bridges require it as part of their structure, but Madison's were removed during its last renovation, maybe the 1980s.
    The false bumps were put there because some people thought it made the bridge look better.

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