Field Engineers from SPAAN Tech, Inc. provided professional construction engineering services, to HDR, for CDOT’s City-Wide Roadway Category 8 Projects. Under this task order, services included: repair, maintenance, reconstruction, and construction projects for two historic bridge structures.

Kedzie Ave. travels directly through the middle of Marquette Park (between 67th & 71st Streets), and the two 80-year-old reinforced concrete T-beam bridges bring thousands of cars across the North and South Lagoons, each day.

Demolition on the deteriorated structures enabled the contractor to install a new bridge deck, new lighting, new sidewalks, a new storm drainage system, and a new pumphouse feed for the Chicago Park District. Four paved lanes (measuring 42 ft. x 49 ft.) were created on the bridge deck, as-well-as rehabilitation of 22,000 ft. of roadway leading up to the bridges.

The project team overcame several unique challenges during the construction. Bridge abutments were structurally unsound and had to be cut down, repaired, & recast. In addition, the location of the soil retention system was drafted to be right on top of an unmarked sewer drain, so a completely new system had to be designed, approved, and constructed before the project could continue. Inter-agency communication proved to be critical.

The finished result respected the historic character of the site while bringing the bridges up to code and ensuring accessibility. The bridges were reopened to vehicular and pedestrian traffic in November 2012. The $6.15 million rebuilding project was completed in 8 months and created 80 jobs, as part of the mayor's “Building a New Chicago” infrastructure renewal program.