Project Description
Built in 1920, the Beaux-Arts style bridge was designed by Edward Bennett the co-author of the Plan of Chicago. It was the first double-deck, double-leaf, fixed trunnion bascule bridge ever built. The bridge connected Chicago’s north and south. In the 1920’s the bridge would lift 3,000 times a day, today it only lifts about 40 times a year. With the rapid growth, in 1947, the area became know as the Magnificent Mile.
In 1991, the City of Chicago and the State of Illnois declared it a Chicago Landmark. In 2010, it was renamed DuSable Bridge in honor of Chicago’s first permanent resident, Jean Baptiste Point DuSable.
Allen Metals was chosen to replicate the bridge’s original pedestrian railings. The new railings were cast and fabricated in aluminum. The entire railing assemblies were fabricated in the shop then dismantled and shipped to the location for installation on the bridge. The more than 400 linear feet of railings have a high-end Kynar finish that will match the color pallet chosen for the city’s bridge.
