Chicago Bridges

As the weather warms up, Chicago starts to shake off the winter cold and come alive.  Chicago is famous for architecture and part of that is Chicago's beautiful bridges.  They come alive in the warmer months.  It's bridge season!  In the stretch around downtown Chicago, there are eighteen total movable bridges.  It is an incredible sight to see an entire street pointing straight up in mid air.  In order for boats to navigate the Chicago River, the bridges need to be lifted to let the water traffic through.  I happened to be walking from River North to the Loop and needed to walk across the River.  They were lifting the State Street bridge.  Check out these photos:

It's an amazing thing to watch and the history behind the bridges is truly incredible.  When you see the giant steel street pointing straight up in the air like a sky scraper it's pretty awe inspiring and powerful.  There's an entire site dedicated to these iconic Chicago bridges.  Check out Chicago Loop Bridges.  They even have guided tours available!  I have not been on one of those guided tours, but I plan to go this summer.  I will check back here with my experience.  It hasn't been posted yet, but check back here for CDOT's bridge lift schedule.  The Spring Bridge lift schedule usually starts around the 2nd or 3rd week in April.  

Happy bridge viewing!