Western Railroad Discussion > CN Chicago - Air Line

I stopped by Chicago on Sunday to take a look at the CN/SCAL bridge replacements. All of the old bridges have been removed (except Clark St).

At 16th St construction of the Wells-Wentworth connector continues. The new bridge over the future road is in place on the east approach to the SCAL bridge. There is a nice retaining wall along the south side of the approach. A retaining wall is under construction south of the CN line on the west side of Wentworth. A new bridge needs to be put in place for the CN track over the Wells-Wentworth connector. I'm not sure exactly where that will go (if it will be north of the current CN alignment or if the CN alignment will need to a shoo fly or closure to add the new bridge).

In any case, here are a couple shots from Sunday. (The bridge over the Chicago River remains in the upright position.)

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Nice shots. I've really been wondering how they are going to do the road under CN, as it certainly seems to be getting close to that point.

The underlying arial was taken Oct 2020 and shows the retaining wall under construction at the top. The blue line is where I expect the CN track to eventually be (with reconsruction of the entire plant).

I wonder if they will be able to lay in a one track bridge where it would work for the future alignment across Clark and tie it into the existing alignment until all parties agree on the complete reconstruction of 16th St with the realignment of Metra Rock Island for Neighborhood 78.

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