41st Street Pedestrian Bridge

Hillsdale Fabricators performed fabrication and shop preassembly of the 41st Street Bridge, Chicago’s new visually-striking pedestrian bridge. The steel bridge weighs 676 tons and spans a total of 750 feet over Lake Shore Drive and Metra commuter rail lines. It connects Williams-Davis Park with the Lakefront Trail, which runs along the perimeter of Lake Michigan.

The bridge is comprised of induction-bent 36-inch diameter and 48-inch diameter pipe with shop-welded box girders. Hillsdale shipped the bridge to the jobsite in 28 large, built-up pieces. The largest of these pieces weighs approximately 40 tons with a width of 24 feet and a length of 60 feet.

Prior to shipping, the bridge was preassembled at Hillsdale’s shop in five groups to ensure that fit-up could be duplicated in the field. The longest of these five preassemblies is 243 feet in length.

Project Highlights

Main span dual spine is 48” and 36” diameter 1” wall pipe that cambers and sweeps.

Shop-applied three-coat paint system.

Largest and heaviest shipping pieces: 24’-3 13/16 W x 62’-0 1/16 L and 84,205 pounds.