Apr 27, 2023: Opening of Houbolt Road Bridge over Des Plaines river in Joliet, IL

(Satellite)

The bridge opened Apr 27, 2023, but the widening of the existing road between US-6 and I-80 is expected to take a few more months. And they expect some truck stops to be built along that road.

fhwa, Source: Credit to I-80 Coalition

CenterPoint is building this toll ridge to help relieve the traffic jams that were created when intermodal terminals and warehouses were built south of Joliet. I've learned to avoid I-80 in Joliet and IL-53 south of Joliet.

map via wjol

hre

hre-about
"The Houbolt Road Extension leverages the industry’s growth and invests in the community’s quality of life. This added route provides a more direct path for trucks to access I-80, taking traffic off local roads like Route 53 and giving them back to the families and our neighbors who use them every day."
[They should have given the local roads back to the residents a long time ago. And I'm sure the truck drivers will be more inclined to serve the area if they don't have to set in traffic jams for long periods of time.]

 

1:19 video @ 0:57
"Houbolt Road Extension – Girder Raising – July 2022"

Note that much of the "land" that we see in the river in the above video was removed when the bridge was done.

ChicagoBusiness
The $170m project was privately funded. It is the first privately built toll road in Illinois.

This is an excellent example of a modern video style that I don't like --- a bunch of closeups that are so close it is hard to figure out what is happening. For example, I guess this chute is at the end of a conveyor belt rather than a part of a ready-mix truck.

0:53 video @ 0:11

Ozinga posted seven photos with the comment: "In honor of Houbolt Bridge opening today, let’s take a trip down memory lane! Thank goodness for this bridge or we’d have to barge your car across the river like we did with our trucks."

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On one of my trips to Brandon Road Lock and Dam, in order to avoid the I-80 jam, I got of I-355 at US-6, took that West to Briggs Street, then South to Mills Road, then West to IL-53. And there I sat through several traffic-light cycles trying to go North on IL-53 to Patterson Road. Now I take US-6 thorough Joliet to Brandon Road. The stop-and-go traffic in Joliet is better than the stop-and-stop traffic around the intermodal yards.

Brandon Road Lock and Dam

(Satellite)

(Even though this L&D is on the Des Plaines River, I added the "wwIll" label to help me access all of the USACE L&Ds in Illinois.)

Repairs has more information concerning the lock and Invasive Species has more information about preventing fish migration between the Great Lakes and Mississippi watersheds.

USACE

 

16:05 video @ 2:35

KleinschmidtGroup 2009 Hydro Study

I had no idea the Mississippi comes this far north. It is owned by the USACE, and I understand that it is more of a cruise ship than a towboat.

WaterWaysJournal, Mar 31, 2023

WaterWaysJournal, Sep 9, 2022
In 2022, slots were added so that stop logs like this one can be used to dewater the lock. The "poiree dam system" had been condemned in the 1990s.

MarineLink, USACE Rock Island District
The replacement of the 90-year old miter gates machinery in 2023 by Brennan will cost $23,484,700.
[Brennan also did the 2022 work.]

The lower gate closing after an upstream tow has entered the lock. 

20150523 1875

Whenever I go to Joliet to railfan, I also try to check out Brandon Lock and Dam. It makes sense to take photos of a dam multiple times because the flows change. In fact, I sometimes make a special effort to go to Joliet after we have had heavy rains to catch how the flow changes.

20170621 9311, cropped
[The truss work in the background on the left side is the I-80 bridge over the Des Plaines River.]

Satellite

Looking at a satellite image, we see that Brandon Road has a bridge downstream of the dam.

Thanks to watching fisherman park on the shoulder of the road and walk out on the shoulder of the bridge, I do the same. The above photo of the dam was taken from this bridge.

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I&M Canal: Dam and Lock #5 near Jackson Street in Joliet, IL

(Satellite, the Illinois Waterway Project downed the area of this lock)

I've read about dams and locks in Joliet before, but I can't find that info now. So I'm starting some notes to at least save some MWRD photos.

A new Lock #5 was built when the Brandon Lock & Dam was built.

Please read Joe's comment on his Flickr photo. He explains the location and purpose of this lock and dam. See Locks #6&#7 for an extant example of how a dam's reservoir was used to avoid an aqueduct for a canal.

MWRD posted
A wheelbarrow brigade moving gravel for concrete for a new lock at Jackson Street in Joliet, Illinois, on March 24, 1899.
Frank Stokes: It looks like the lock is still there. Would this be the original spot the I&M connected to the Des Plaines river?

Dennis DeBruler commented on Frank's comment

Frank Stokes The canal connection still exists north of Ruby Street.

41°32'20.7"N 88°04'56.5"W

This lock went around a mill dam, and it was on the west side of the river. The truss bridge in the background of the photo is probably Ruby Street. In the left background and behind the riverfront industries we see the Illinois Iron Works. The building of the Brandon Road Lock & Dam would have put any remnants of this lock under water.

MWRD posted on June 13, 2022
Workers moving gravel for concrete at the construction site of new Lock No. 5 at Jackson Street in Joliet, Illinois, on March 24, 1899.
MWRD posted

MWRD posted
A view to the north showing construction work on the I&M Canal Lock No. 5 in Joliet, Illinois, on March 24, 1899.
MWRD posted

 

MWRD posted on Apr 15, 2023
Construction of Lock No. 5 at Jackson Street in Joliet, Illinois, on March 24, 1899. Construction of the canal was the largest earth-moving operation undertaken on the North American continent up to that time and was notable for training a generation of engineers, several of whom later worked on the Panama Canal. 

 

MWRD posted
Construction of a new Lock No. 5 on March 24, 1899, at Jackson Street in Joliet, Illinois.

MWRD posted on Nov 29, 2021
A barge passes through a newly built lock at Jackson Street in Joliet, Illinois, downstream from the soon-to-open Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal in 1899.
MWRD posted on Mar 27, 2023
A barge passes through a newly built lock at Jackson Street in Joliet, Illinois, downstream from the soon-to-open Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal in 1899. Construction of the canal was the largest earth-moving operation undertaken on the North American continent up to that time and was notable for training a generation of engineers, several of whom later worked on the Panama Canal.

I presume the black line on an angle across the river was Dam 1.

925 Joliet Quad @ 62,500

Joliet's Movable Bridges Overview

To summarize the following video information, from north to south:

• CN/EJ&E #198 Bridge
• Ruby Street Bridge
• Jackson Street Bridge
• Cass Street Bridge
• Jefferson Street Bridge
• (Metra+CSX+IAIS)/Rock Island Bridge (#407)
• McDonough Street Bridge

This 0:48 timelapse video of a tow going downbound on the Des Plaines River through Joliet, IL, has motivated me to index my notes concerning the Joliet movable bridges.

The CN/EJ&E #198 Bridge

0:48 video @ 0:04

I zoomed in so that you can see the leaves of a bascule bridge in the background. These caught my eye because you can watch them go up just before this timestamp. That means another tow is also on the river in Joliet.

Digitally Zoomed

We soon see that the other tow is a local going upbound.

0:48 video @ 0:16, cropped

And that the bridge we saw in the raised position at 0:04 was the Ruby Street Bridge.

0:48 video @ 0:25, cropped

The Jackson Street Bridge is up, but the Cass Street Bridge is still down. On the port riverbank is the Joliet Marine & Drydock and Alexander McKenzie.

0:48 video @ 0:27, cropped

The Cass Street Bridge is almost in its fully open position.

0:48 video @ 0:31, cropped

I added this closeup of the Cass Street Bridge because it shows that the Jefferson Street Bridge is down. That is significant because it had been in its raised position for a couple of years waiting on a part to be fabricated so that it could be fixed.

0:48 video @ 0:34, cropped

For variety, I show the Jefferson Street Bridge on its way up.

0:48 video @ 0:34, cropped

The (Metra+CSX+IAIS)/Rock Island Bridge (#407) is always up unless a train needs to cross it.

0:48 video @ 0:37, cropped

I saved the McDonough Street Bridge as it just started to go up because I wanted to catch the Prairie Creek Grain barge loading facility on the starboard side. The white dome is part of a cement distribution company that is on the other side of McDonough Street.

0:48 video @ 0:41, cropped

Another overview:

1 of 2 photos posted by Dale Bulthuis Jr.
Beau Blessey coming down through Joliet
[Taken from the Cass Street Bridge, we see the Jackson and Ruby Street Bridges. The white bridge in the distance is the BNSF/Santa Fe Bridge over the I&M Canal.]

1:21 timelapse video, southbound

1:28 timelapse video, northbound in the dark   Near the end there is a southbound BNSF/Santa Fe train on the I&M Canal bridge and a southbound tow that appears to be waiting for him to come north.

Timelapse downbound Facebook Reel

1933,1941,2022 Jefferson Street Bridges in Joliet, IL

(Bridge Hunter; Historic Bridges; HAER; 3D Satellite)

These notes have been setting as a draft for years because I had intended to find my photos and add them. I've decided that I can add them later if I finally get motivated to find them.

HAER ILL, 99-JOL, 5--1
1. GENERAL VIEW OF BRIDGE LOOKING SOUTH - DesPlaines River Bridge, Jefferson Street, Joliet, Will County, IL

MWRD posted two photos with the comment:

Westward views of the Cass Street and Jefferson Street bridges in Joliet on July 15, 1910. The Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal (CSSC) was completed in 1900 and at that time it terminated at the Lockport Controlling Works just north of 9th Street in Lockport. It was later extended further downstream to an area where the MWRD built the Lockport Powerhouse and Lock, effectively taking advantage of a nearly 40-foot difference in elevation between the CSSC and the Des Plaines River for hydroelectric power generation. The MWRD also made improvements to the Des Plaines River downstream of the Lockport Powerhouse as part of the Joliet Project, including river channel excavation, embankment improvements and construction of levees and bridges. Seven bridges were constructed by the MWRD for the Joliet Project, including these bridges at Jefferson Street and Cass Street.

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David  Webster posted, Apr 2021

Dennis DeBruler commented on David's photo

Jefferson, Cass and Jackson Street Bridges. The Jefferson Street Bridge has been stuck open since June 1, 2020.

https://www.google.com/.../@41.520475,-88.../data=!3m1!1e3

safe_image for Is Jefferson Street Bridge Reopening? IDOT Reveals Answer
"The most recent problem has involved trying to get all the new mechanical parts to line up properly and function together, city officials were told."
[IDOT had claimed Oct 2021, then Thanksgiving, now (Dec 7, 2021) they are claiming by the second week of January.]

This video that was posted on May 9, 2022, shows that the bridge has finally been fixed because it shows it in the down position before it was raised for the tow.

0:48 video @ 0:34, cropped

(new window)   1x3 tow pushed by the 4-story Louisiana Belle. There is quite a bit of creaking as the two leaves are mated at 4:02. The action switches to the Cass Street Bridge at 4:39. It looks like the tow had to stop and wait for the Bridge Street Bridge to finally start going up at 6:14.



(new window)  The video starts with the CSX+IAIS/Rock Island lift bridge going up. This is a rare shot because this bridge is normally up. I wonder if they have another video of the train going across the bridge. I spent all evening during the longest day of the year with my camera on a tripod waiting for the IAIS train to cross. It never did com that evening. Starting around 2:09 you can hear what sounds like a pile driver. I wonder what is being built. It looks like a 3+2 tow being pushed by a towboat with a retractable pilothouse. At 4:39 you hear a siren. I presume that is the warning that the Jefferson Street Bridge is going up. At 6:43 I think we hear the siren for the Cass Street Bridge. I wonder what sort of maneuvering issue he encountered at about 7:20 that caused the captain to "pour on the coal." The videographer caught the impressive propwash.


City of Joliet, Illinois, Government posted two photos with the comment:

Historic Preservation Month: Twenty-eight Gato/Balao Class submarines were built in Manitowoc, Wisconsin. After completion of crew training and sea trials in Lake Michigan, these submarines sailed through the Chicago River and the Sanitary & Ship Canal to Lockport where they were placed on specialty-built floating dry docks. These dry docks then moved through the locks, through Joliet, onwards to the Mississippi River, and then down to New Orleans, Louisiana. Once their periscopes were reinstalled, they traveled across the Gulf of Mexico through the Panama Canal to the Pacific theater of WWII.  Four of the Manitowoc Submarines were lost in combat during the war, with the loss of over 300 officers and men. These four submarines brought the total number of submarines lost in World War II, to 52. A total of 3,000 officers and men are now on Eternal Patrol. 

On Wednesday, June 14th at 11:00 am, the USS Chicago Base in conjunction with the City will be dedicating a new monument to remember the Manitowoc submarine expedition and the men who served on board all World War II submarines at the Joliet Veterans Memorial at Bicentennial Park. All are welcome to attend this dedication ceremony.

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[I sure hope there is a tow out-of-frame to the bottom is why the bridge is open. Or is it out of service again? (Or still?)]