At the end of last month I got to take a quick business trip to Chicago. The highlight was getting to spend my lunch break walking along the Chicago River, checking out its movable bridges. You’ve heard of Chicago-style pizza; well, there are Chicago-style movable bridges too. Chicago has thirty-six movable bridges, more than any other city in the world. Almost all are bascule bridges, some examples of which are shown on this page. New York City, by contrast, has four different types of movable bridges—bascule, vertical lift, swing, and retractile.
Another difference between New York and Chicago bridges is that Chicago’s bridges only open on Wednesdays and Saturdays, and only during the spring and fall, whereas New York’s bridges can be operated 24/7.
Here’s an empty bridge operator’s tower.
There was very little traffic on the river when I was there, but I did see one of Shoreline Sightseeing’s water taxis (not pictured), and the William C, one of Illinois Marine Towing’s boats. And here’s a link to a time-lapse video from Chicago Water Taxi that shows a round-trip voyage on the river.
Puffin is short enough to pass under all of Chicago’s bridges without waiting for them to open, and the bridges are so close together that passing under them all is probably only a one- or two-day event. Now all we need to do is get Puffin to Lake Michigan! (Karen and I were able to fix the steering problem; now it’s just a matter of fixing our schedules so we have time to use the boat.)
Finally, here’s a gratuitous picture of the Sears Tower, the tallest building in North America and the third tallest in the world.
The new blog looks great Brian. I have no doubt with the new system you’ll be blogging like a madman
That’s too bad that Chicago limits when their drawbridges can open!
I worked on Chicago’s waters for three summers: ‘74, ‘75 and ‘76. I worked as a deckhand for Shoreline Marine for parts of ‘74 and ‘75 before getting my 100-ton license and taking over the helm of the Marlyn, the double-deck sightseeing boat that operated off the foot of the Shedd Aquarium in the daylight hours and in front of Buckingham Fountain at night.
In the late Spring of ‘76 I had to bring the Marlyn to the Lake from the Grebe yard where she wintered and got to open EVERY ONE OF THOSE BRIDGES!!!
I spent about a month and a half in the Grebe yard getting the Marlyn ready for the season, painting, Coast Guard inspection, etc. and got to love and appreciate the beautiful Grebe boats that came from all around the Great Lakes for winter servicing. Ten years later, on Cape Cod, I was offered the job of running and renovating a 47′ Grebe motor yacht and jumped at the chance.
I made three trips between the Cape and Fort Lauderdale where the work was done. On the second trip south, and with a dozen sparkling coats of varnish on her topsides I passed the northbound Trumpy Lytchfield Lady that had once been John Trumpy’s personal yacht. We passed in an isolated stretch of the Waccamaw north of Charleston, SC. The captain of the Lady called me on the VHF and said, “isn’t it ironic that when two of the prettiest boats ever built in the States are together there’s no one around to see them?”
Thanks for the great comment, oldsalt. It’s a thrill to get bridges to open, but so far I’ve only had one open just for me.
When I was in Portland, ME, this summer there was a Grebe undergoing renovation. You can see it in the foreground in this picture.