43rd Street Pedestrian Bridge

The 41st Street Pedestrian Arch Bridge is a signature steel structure developed through the City of Chicago’s Bridging the Drive international design competition to reconnect the Bronzeville neighborhood with the Lake Michigan waterfront. Designed by AECOM and Cordova and Clark, the approximately 1,500-foot-long bridge spans Lake Shore Drive, active Metra and CN rail lines, and overhead catenary systems, restoring direct pedestrian and bicycle access to the lakefront.

The bridge features twin 240-foot inclined steel arches arranged along sweeping S-curves, supported by a 4-foot-diameter primary arch rib, longitudinal deck ribs, and basket-handle “kicker” ribs that enhance lateral stability and reduce unbraced lengths. Hillsdale Fabricators supplied 676 tons of structural steel for the bridge, performing detailed Tekla modeling and large-scale shop preassembly— including assemblies exceeding 240 feet—to ensure precise fit-up and efficient field erection over live traffic and rail operations.