Industrial History

Monday, March 2, 2020

Bridges over South Branch Elizabeth River south of Norfolk, VA

NPB, lift: (Bridge Hunter; 3D Satellite)

South Norfolk Jordan: (Satellite)
1907 NS/VGN, swing: (Bridge Hunter)
NS/VGN, lift: (Bridge Hunter; 3D Satellite)
1938+1958 Gilmerton, trunnion: (Bridge Hunter)
2014 Gilmerton, lift: (Bridge Hunter; 3D Satellite)
NS/NW, rolling: (Bridge Hunter; 3D Satellite)
former Great Bridge, swing: (Bridge Hunter)
2004 Great Bridge, rolling: (Bridge Hunter; 3D Satellite)
1969 I-64+US-17 High Rise Bridge, trunnion: (Bridge Hunter; 3D Satellite)

NPB = Norfolk and Portsmouth Belt Line,
owned by NS+CSX/ACL+NSRY+NW+Pennsy+SAL+VGN

The bridges on the East Branch of the Elizabeth River are in another post.

The NPB bridge actually goes between Portsmouth and Chesapeake, which are towns south of Norfolk. The other bridges are in Chesapeake. I used Norfolk in the title because I did not know about these other two towns until I came across the photo below. I discovered that Norfolk Naval Shipyard is actually in Portsmouth, not Norfolk.

NPB

Norfolk Southern posted

Norfolk Southern partners with 263 short line railroads. The NS Short Line Marketing Group works with short line partners to serve the transportation needs of mutual customers. To learn more: http://bit.ly/32lakIO

Pictured: Norfolk & Portsmouth Belt Line Railroad GP38-2 #5260 crosses the Elizabeth River drawbridge from #Chesapeake into #Portsmouth as it moves back into the NPBL yard.
[According to Bridge Hunter, the lift span is 385'.]

VDOT Flickr via Bridge Hunter, License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs (CC BY-NC-ND)
New Gilmerton Bridge span floats under the NS Railroad Bridge. (Photo by D. Allen Covey, VDOT)

Two photos posted by Bridges & Tunnels.

There are no bridges downstream from this bridge, just tunnels. Note that there is an aircraft carrier in the drydock at the naval shipyard.

Satellite

This is the post that motivated me verifying that there are no bridges downstream from the naval yard.

Navy General Board posted

The Nimitz class aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75) making her way down the Elizabeth River after departing the Norfolk Naval Shipyard.

For a ship the size of a supercarrier, navigating the river is no small feat. A cloud of silt can be seen behind the carrier, stirred up by her massive screws. Tugs maintain close formation around the carrier, ready to step in if needed.

After navigating the river, the carrier will return to her base at Naval Station Norfolk at Hampton Roads.

At the top of the photo, the stern and upperworks of the Iowa class battleship USS Wisconsin (BB-64) can be seen.

[A comment indicates the photo was taken in 2004.]

Patrick Lynch posted
Crossing the Elizabeth River on this dramatic draw bridge, grain train G955 is arriving at Berkley Yard in Norfolk. This grain train is about to have a Norfolk Portsmouth Belt Line crew relieve the CSX crew which came from Richmond. The power on this train is two recently reactivated CW40-8s, 7771 and 7777. 3/19/23

South Norfolk Jordan Bridge

Three photos posted by Bridges & Tunnels.

1
[At least they tried to protect the main piers.]

NS/VGN Swing Bridge

Public Domain via Bridge Hunter

NS/VGN Lift Bridge

3D Satellite

1938+1958 Gilmerton Trunnion Bridge

VDOT Flickr via Bridge Hunter, License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs (CC BY-NC-ND)
15 foot clearence of the Gilmerton Bridge in Chesapeake, VA requires frequent traffic interruptions to allow water craft to pass through. Photo by D. Allen Covey, VDOT
[The clearance of the replacement bridge is 35' and should require significantly fewer lifts. I remember the number 40%. But I can't remember if that was 40% fewer lifts. That is the price I pay for researching so many bridges in one day.]

This is one of five photos in a VDOT Album that shows the bridge operating. It shows the approach lanes being built for the new bridge on the right. Note the cranes over by the bridge tower. The following photo was taken from that side and gives us a better view of the cranes that are doing the foundation work.

VDOT Flickr via Bridge Hunter, License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs (CC BY-NC-ND)

Digitally zoomed in on the above photo
I believe the crane handling the foundation drill is a Manitowoc 2250.

2014 Gilmerton

3D Satellite

VDOT

You have a choice for looking at VDOT's 112 photos on Flickr or Bridge Hunter.

(new window) I can't believe that VDOT monetized this video.

(new window) There is no useful information after 1:57.

(new window) A sign at 1:06 indicates the bridge was closed Jan 7-20. So the replacement of the movable span within a day was really just a small fraction of the time that the bridge was closed to vehicle traffic. But I assume marine traffic was stopped for just that day. This video has too much "talking head" time for me to recommend. One factoid I did learn was that the offsite construction area was seven nautical miles upstream from the bridge and it took just 2 hours to float the span down the river because the lifts of the other bridges over the river had been carefully scheduled. If you want a drinking party, take a drink every time they talk about the collaboration/communication between blaa, blaa, and blaa. This video said the tolerances between the span and the tower was a few inches. The above video said a half-inch. That is an important enough fact that I would expect agreement if there was such good communication on this project. I quit watching at 5:53.

This video settles down to a professional narration over interesting construction scenes. It adds the information that the four lanes can be expanded to six. The span is wide enough that eight 120,000 pound sheaves are used. There is some foundation info at 4:43. They talk about the big oscillator that was used to drill the eight 12' piles 80' below the river bed. The steel towers are 207' tall and provide 135' of vertical clearance. The lift span is 89'x250' and weighs 5,000,000 pounds. Video showing the span float starts at 7:19. It was done on Jan 7, 2013. Useful information ends at 9:07 unless you are playing the suggested drinking game and looking for shots like the one below. It shows the two towboats on the span barge and the crane barge that followed behind.

10:40

NS/N&W 1908 Scherzer Rolling Bridge

It looks like rail traffic is low enough that the bridge is normally kept in the open position.

3D Satellite

Before they shoved the new span into place, they had to move the towboat out of the way to lower the railroad bridge for a train. After the train passed, they shoved the span into place.

VDOT Flickr via Bridge Hunter, License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs (CC BY-NC-ND)

Jim Morris posted
Chesapeake Virginia, that's one way to stop rail gang.
[A comment has a 16 second video of the boat going through for which they were held up for an hour here. Since it passed under the bridge in less than 10 seconds, why did the tender think it needed to be up for an hour? Did something break?]

Mark Hinsdale posted
"Bridge 7"
Very early in the Norfolk Southern era, a westbound train of empty coal hoppers roars across Bridge 7 spanning the South Branch of the Elizabeth River in the Norfolk suburb of Chesapeake VA. The N&W main line makes a sweeping hook turn in Norfolk, with westbound trains actually facing east as they leave the Lamberts Point terminal, then turning south through the inner east side of the city, before curving mostly west in the vicinity of Portlock to cross the vast Dismal Swamp and then head on across Virginia toward Petersburg and Roanoke. The Norfolk & Portsmouth Belt Line Railroad (NPBL) also serves this immediate area, making it one of the busier places to catch the rail action in Tidewater Virginia. January, 1984 photo by Mark Hinsdale
Mark Hinsdale shared

Dennis DeBruler commented on Mark's share
The surroundings have changed a lot since 1984.
https://goo.gl/maps/ch74vBE2pcEn3G766

Former Great Bridge Bridge, Swing

I could not find a photo of this bridge. Since it was replaced in the 21st Century, I fired up Global Earth to find an image of it. It doesn't look like a swing bridge from above because it is a deck plate girder swing bridge.

200204

I included all of the images after 200204 until the construction was done.

200303

200309

200401

200406

I included the next two images because they capture the bridge in an open position and show that a couple of boats passed through the bridge.

200506

200510

2004 Great Bridge Bridge, Scherzer Rolling

A 4-lane Scherzer rolling bridge was built in 2004 to replace a 2-lane swing bridge.

According to the Great Bridge Battlefield & Waterways History Foundation,
the Battle of Great Bridge was the first decisive land victory in the Revolutionary War.
For eleven days in December 1775,
cannons fired and smoke clouded the sky as British and American troops battled to the death.
It's hard to imagine this peaceful place was once the site of such bellicosity.
[VirginiaShire]

"Opens on demand, except from 6 a.m. - 7 p.m. when it is opened on the hour." [CityOfChesapeake]

(bridge going up and down)

I-64+US-17 High Rise Bridge

I save a satellite image because they are doing some construction. Unfortunately, I don't have time to research what they are working on.

Satellite

VaDOT Flickr via Bridge Hunter, License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs (CC BY-NC-ND)
I-64, High Rise Bridge over the Southern Branch in Chesapeake. (Photo by Tom Saunders, VDOT)

VaDOT Flickr via Bridge Hunter, License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs (CC BY-NC-ND)North side of the I-64 High Rise Bridge looking southwest from under the bridge.

safe_image for Trucker rescued from semi dangling from High Rise BridgeJim Browne Looks like Cianbro's Ringer barge "Respect". From Google Earth its got one BIG pile hammer on it.
[The ringer did not help with the rescue. It must be part of the construction project seen in the satellite map. They put a cable through the end of the ladder on a fire truck to work like a crane.]

Sunday, March 1, 2020

9th Street Bridges (IL-7) over Des Plaines River and CS&SC at Lockport, IL

1868 stone arch: (Bridge Hunter; HAER; Satellite, removed 2011)
1903 bobtail: (Bridge Hunter confuses Division/16th Street Bridge with 9th Street Bridge)
1950s slab: (Satellite)
1972 high slab: (no Bridge Hunter; Satellite)

CS&SC = Chicago Sanitary & Ship Canal

1868 Stone Arch Bridge

eBook has an 1880s photo of the 1868 bridge as it was built. Below is a photo of the modification made in 1903 to connect to the new bobtail bridge over the extension of the CS&SC to the powerhouse. (A bobtail bridge is an asymmetric swing bridge.) Specifically, the stone parapet was removed and replaced by a concrete ramp up to the level of the bobtail bridge.

1974 HAARGIS photo via Bridge Hunter, looking Northwest

This description in Bridge Hunter for the Division Street Bridge was copied from a different HAER record. The HAER record for the Division Street Bridge is correct.

The original Stone Arch Bridge was constructed in 1868-69, and provided access from Lockport to the western part of Will County and to Kendall County. The bridge has seven arches of approximately 28 feet each, and was built of local limestone. As constructed, the bridge also had stone parapets measuring about 4-1/2 to 5-1/2 feet high. The piers are reinforced with stone buttresses which, in turn, are protected by timbers from ice floes, barges, etc. The opening of the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal in 1900, and the concern about possible flooding led to alterations in about 1903. The Chicago S&S Canal was extended for an additional three miles, and dikes constructed along either side so the canal could be raised as much as fifteen feet above the surrounding area. The embankment was of concrete, with an earthen fill. The parapets on the bridge were removed, and the grade of the crossing raised with poured concrete. The arches remain intact.-- Historic American Engineering Record

This description obviously applies to the original 9th Street Bridge. I was able to find the HAER report that had this description.

Photo from HAER ILL,99-LOCK,9--1 from il0433

ORIGINAL STONE ARCH BRIDGE OVER THE DES PLAINES RIVER AT NINTH STREET IN LOCKPORT. THE BRIDGE WAS BUILT ABOUT 1865. NOTE METAL CLAMP ON THE NEAR PIER AND THE 20TH CENTURY REINFORCED CONCRETE ADDITION. - Lockport Historic District, Stone Arch Bridge, Spanning Des Plaines River at Ninth Street, Lockport, Will County, IL

Photo from HAER ILL,99-LOCK,9--2 from il0433

STONE ARCH BRIDGE. TIMBERS ON THE UPSTREAM FACE OF THE PIER PROTECTED THE STONEWORK FROM DAMAGE FROM ICE FLOWS, BARGES, ETC. - Lockport Historic District, Stone Arch Bridge, Spanning Des Plaines River at Ninth Street, Lockport, Will County, IL

2004 HAARGIS photo via Bridge Hunter, looking South

2004 HAARGIS photo via Bridge Hunter
[How did the deck get enough dirt on it to support all of that vegetation?]

The following two images from Global Earth capture the before and after view of the bridge.

201008

201111

I include two older images of the bridge because they show how nature takes over man-made structures if they are neglected.

200203

201006

1903 Bobtail Bridge over the CS&SC

eBook has a photo of the bobtail bridge that was here until the high-bridge was built in 1972. This bridge is longer than the other two bobtail bridges that were built when the CS&SC was extended South of the control structure: 135th and Division. In a view looking east [eBook, second photo], we can see the handrails of the stone arch bridge.

MWRD posted
Construction of the Ninth Street swing bridge over the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal extension on November 9, 1905, near Lockport, IL.
MWRD posted
MWRD posted a different exposure

Per Gary's comment, this bridge is in the background of the following photo.

MWRD posted
Construction of the Butterfly Dam, at left, and the west wall of the Chicago Sanitary and Shipping Canal (CSSC) channel extension at Lockport, Illinois, on June 18, 1907. Between 1903 and 1907, the Sanitary District of Chicago (now MWRD) extended the CSSC and built the Lockport Powerhouse and Lock in order to generate hydroelectric power and to allow passage of watercraft between the Des Plaines River and the CSSC. The Butterfly Dam was built in 1907 and was intended to prevent downstream flooding in the case of a failure of any part of the channel extension structures including the channel walls, powerhouse or lock. The steal leaf of the dam could be rotated to close off the flow of water in case of an emergency. Such an emergency never occurred and the Butterfly Dam was removed in 1985.
Gary Ward: The Ninth St swing bridge is visible in the background.

MWRD posted on Jun 9, 2023
A view of work on the Ninth Street bridge in Lockport on March 23, 1922, viewed from the west approach looking east.

MWRD posted
Repairs to a section of the wall of the Chicago Sanitary and Shipping Canal near Lockport, Illinois, on September 5, 1917.

Mark Bilecki Sr.: Would that be the old 9th st bridge in the background?

Dennis DeBruler commented on Mark's comment
I think so because it has just five panels on the short side as does this bridge that MWRD documents as 9th Street, https://www.facebook.com/MetropolitanWaterReclamationDistrict/posts/1618766874881194. The bobtail bridge down at Division Street had only four panels on the short side.

1950s Bridge over Des Plaines River

West of the CS&SC bridge is a bridge over the Des Plaines River. It was closed when I was trying to chase a towboat through here. It was open when I started this blog in 2014. Is it closed because the 1950s bridge is bad or because someone is even more paranoid about security. Evidently the bridge is bad because, according to Global Earth, between March and April of 2015, an alternate bridge to MWRD's powerhouse was built.

20180708 2738

It looks like they may be fixing the bridge.

Street View, Oct 2019

The second photo on eBook shows that truss spans crossed the Des Plaines River before this 1950s bridge was built.

1972 "High" Bridge over BNSF/Santa Fe, CS&SC and Des Plaines River

The movable bridges at 135th and 9th have been replaced by bridges that are high enough over the canal that large towboats that don't have retractable pilothouses can fit under them. The top of modern bridges is boring, but the bottom can be interesting. (If you want to see the top, you can always play with Street View.) When I encountered the barricades shown above indicating that the old 9th Street Bridge was closed, I followed the example of others and parked along the road and walked across the bridge. Walking is kinda nice because you catch photos that you would otherwise miss. This photo reminds me that the new bridge is high not only to clear towboats on the canal but because the canal itself is about 15' above the land here.

20180708 2746

This photo shows the curve in the bridge over the Des Plaines River.

Bill Molony posted

This is the 65-ton Whitcomb switch engine used by the Material Service Corporation near Lockport.

Photos by Chuck Galitz - July 7th and November 11th, 1978.

It is a good thing that this bridge is above the river traffic because eastbound traffic often backs up from the traffic light at State Street all the way across the bridge and down the right lane of IL-53. Fortunately, when I go from Joliet to Lemont, I can use the 135th Street Bridge instead. While on a bus for a tour of the Lockport Powerhouse, we got stuck in the eastbound traffic. It was a Saturday and the traffic was a mess during all of the hours that I was in the area. Since the driver was using her brake pedal instead of her accelerator pedal, I was able to catch the Robert A. Knoke travelling southbound under the bridge.

3:02

3:04

3:05