1958 I-90 Skyway Bridge over Calumet River in Chicago, IL

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

HAER ILL, 16-CHIG, 138--22 (CT)

LOOKING NORTH AT MAIN SPAN, FROM 100TH STREET BRIDGE - Chicago Skyway Toll Bridge, I-90, for 7.8 miles from South State Street to Indiana state line, Chicago, Cook County, IL

Significance: The Chicago Skyway Toll Bridge system crosses the Calumet River on a 650'-0"-long cantilever Warren through truss. This is Chicago's highest and longest bridge, and perhaps more importantly, its symbolic eastern gateway. The Skyway's completion marked the final link in a system oftoll roads stretching from New York City to Chicago. This "toll bridge," however, also includes 7.8 miles of approach roads, which hint at an interesting legislative history. The Skyway's overpass and interchange structures contain specialty steel work such as welded rigid-frame bents and "hammer-head" piers, then relatively new designs. The toll plaza and service building, described in aseparate report, are also significant for their innovative design [HAER-data]

Chicago Event of the Day posted
April 1, 1954 – Mayor Martin Kennelly approves the plans for the construction of a $50 million extension of the Indiana turnpike into Chicago, a toll road that will require a high bridge over the Calumet River and seven miles of expressway.  The toll may be as high as 25 cents for passenger cars with higher fees for trucks, based on their size.  The construction will begin under a piece of 1953 Illinois legislation that allows cities to build and operate toll bridges.  Chicago officials state that the entire seven miles of the road will be considered as an approach to the bridge, a position that will be tested in the courts.  What came to be known as the Chicago Skyway was finished in 1958 at a cost of $101 million (a little over $900,000,000 in 2020 dollars).  In 2005 the city sold the Skyway for $1.83 billion to a joint venture between an Australian and a Spanish company.  That group, the Skyway Concession Company, then assumed operation and maintenance of the route.  A decade later the Skyway was sold again to three of Canada’s largest investment funds for $2.8 billion.
[According to a comment, the toll is now $5.25. I started getting off the expressway in Indiana and taking US-41 to I-55 or I-290 decades ago because the Skyway always seemed to be jammed up with construction.]
[This photo appears to be HAER ILL, 16-CHIG, 138--18]

Christopher Camalick shared
[According to a comment, the toll is now $5.30.]

 

Bill Bielby posted
High Bridge over Calumet River as seen from Amtrak Blue Water train from Port Huron to Chicago.

Vanished Chicago posted
CHICAGO – CALUMET EXPRESSWAY – AERIAL – NEARING COMPLETION – 1958
[Old enough that all five railroad bridges are intact, the gas-o-meter and Comed power plant are still standing and there are several freighters on the river. But the grain elevators north of the tracks are already gone.]
Original Chicago posted a darker exposure

The main span of the Calumet Skyway in 1958, a $101 million road project. The Skyway opened in 1958 and tolls ranged from 25 cents to $1. Now it's $7.80 for two axles. Chicago sold it for $1.8 billion

Built in 1958, the Skyway was operated and maintained by the City of Chicago Department of Streets and Sanitation. In 2004, the City started taking bids on a long term lease for the toll road. Cintra/Macquarie bid $1.83 billion for the 99-year concession and formed the company SCC with the winning bid. The Skyway Concession Company took over operations in 2005. The agreement between SCC and the City of Chicago was the first long term lease of an existing toll road in the United States.

In June 2015, Cintra and Macquarie, seeking to make a return on their equity investment, announced their intent to sell all interest in SCC. A consortium comprising three Canadian pension funds (Calumet Concession Partners LLC) agreed to purchase the lease for $2.8 billion in November 2015. Atlas Arteria Group, a worldwide toll road operator based in Australia, acquired 66.67 percent interest in the Skyway in December 2022, with the Canadians retaining the remaining 33.33%.The Consortium will operate and collect tolls on the Skyway for the remainder of the lease, until 2104.

However, it's not the most expensive toll road. The Pennsylvania Turnpike is the most expensive toll road in the world by a considerable margin. The average two-axel vehicle driver must pay $112.91. The Skyway has another 80 years to catch up

Mike Lenich posted
Skyway under construction where I grew up..,
Michael Siola shared
Christopher Camalick posted
1957. The Skyway would open the next year. Toll was only 25 cents!

John Mohr: Those buildings on the right across the river are the John Mohr & Son's buildings, in business from 1882 to 1982, they serviced and built many of the Mills and components of the mills. Also a boiler manufacturer.

1 of 4 photos posted by Christine Douglas
Tug Laura L. VanEnkevort-Joseph H. Thompson sailed into the Port of Chicago heading to the Ozinga Terminal on the Calumet River. 21 Jul 2020.

Tony Margis posted

tony Margis posted
[I never noticed that the piers were in the river until I saw this photo. The "white towers" in the background are the exhaust pipes for the peaking plant.]

Construction photos
Rod Sellers Skyway is 125 feet above the river. Elevator lift bridges on the Calumet River are 120-125 feet above river when opened. ACE maps give specs.