North Avenue Bridge
Lake Shore Drive near North Avenue

The North Avenue Pedestrian Bridge was considered a triumph of engineering and design when first constructed in 1938. It possesses the unique characteristic of having a very long span with no central support, affording a minimum of visual obstruction to motorists on Lake Shore Drive. The stunning impression from a distance is that of a long, low, and graceful arch linked by an overhead grid of crossed steel beams. Suspended from many vertical cables is the pedestrian roadway. However, because this once-revolutionary bridge does not meet modern accessibility requirements, its future could be doomed.

History
In the 1930’s, Chicago created a transportation breakthrough with the completion of a major portion of the grade-separated Lake Shore Drive, one of the first modern expressways built in the heart of a major city. To match that breakthrough, the city sought to create a series of bridges over this roadway to allow pedestrian access to the lakefront.

The most striking of these bridges was constructed at the southern end of Lincoln Park near North Avenue. It became known as the North Avenue Pedestrian Bridge. It is technically a three-hinged arch, because the arch has a specific curvature and points of support at each end. This type of arch allowed for a very long unbroken span, which allowed the bridge to avoid the need for any vertical supports over the wide span of Lake Shore Drive.

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