Repairs on the State Street Bascule Bridge are expected to be completed by the end of February, and the bridge could reopen to traffic as early as March, the Chicago Department of Transportation announced Wednesday.
Emergency repairs on the bridge began in April of last year after an inspection found parts of the bridge were in poor condition. Floor beams and other parts of the bridge were damaged by extreme heat and needed repairs.
As crews worked on the bridge, they identified more repairs needed on some of the steel, causing delays in finishing the work. The repairs were initially supposed to take seven months.
Trials on the repaired bridge are set to take place in early March depending on the weather. After the trials, the bridge will reopen to pedestrians and vehicles, according to the department of transportation.
Traffic is still being diverted west to Clark and Dearborn Streets as the repairs continue.
The bridge was constructed in 1949 and identified as “structurally deficient” during a September 2024 inspection, meaning the bridge wasn’t unsafe to use but load-bearing parts of the bridge were in poor condition.
When in use, nearly 7,000 vehicles pass over the bridge daily, and around one-tenth of those are trucks, according to an inspection filed with the state last year.
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