Chicago Skyway
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| Image:Chicago Skyway logo.svg Image:I-90.svg | |
| Chicago Skyway | |
| Length: | 7.8 mi[1] (13 km) |
|---|---|
| Formed: | April 1958 |
| West end: | Image:I-90.svg Image:I-94.svg I-90/94 at the Dan Ryan Expressway in Chicago |
| Major junctions: | Image:US 12.svg Image:US 20.svg Image:US 41.svg US 12/US 20/US 41 at the Illinois-Indiana state line. |
| East end: | Image:I-90.svg Image:Indiana Toll Road logo 1968.png I-90/Indiana Toll Road at the Illinois-Indiana state line. |
The Chicago Skyway also known as Chicago Skyway Toll Bridge System is a 7.8 mile (12.5 km) long tollway bridging Interstate 90 at the Dan Ryan Expressway on the west end, and the Indiana Toll Road on the east end.
The main feature of the Skyway is a 1/2-mile (800 m) long steel truss bridge, known as the "High Bridge". The bridge spans the Calumet River and Calumet Harbor, a major harbor for industrial ships. The main span is 650 feet (197 m) long, provides for 125 feet (37.9 m) of vertical clearance, and is the highest road in Chicago. In 2001-04 authorities spent $250 million (USD) to rebuild much of the Skyway.
The toll is $2.50 for passenger cars and other two axle vehicles, with higher rates for vehicles with multiple axles. A discount is given during the overnight hours for vehicles with three or more axles.
The bridge is heavily documented by the Library of Congress Historic American Engineering Record Survey number HAER IL-145. The survey consists of nearly 30 data pages and 21 black and white images.
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[edit] History
The Chicago Skyway was originally known as the Calumet Skyway. It cost $101 million to construct and took about 34 months to build. Nearly eight miles of elevated roadway, it was originally built as a shortcut to Indiana and the steel mills from the southeast side of Chicago; there are only two eastbound exits east of the toll barrier, whereas there are four westbound exits west of the toll barrier. It opened April 16, 1958.[2]
In the 1960s, the newly-constructed Dan Ryan Expressway and neighboring Calumet Expressway, Kingery Expressway and Borman Expressway proved to be free alternatives to the tollway, and the Skyway became much less used. As a result, from the 1970s through the early 1990s, the Skyway was unable to repay revenue bonds used in its construction.[3] Numerous proposals were floated in the 1980s and 1990s to tear down the Skyway because of low traffic counts.
Traffic volumes have rebounded in recent years, (to 47,700 vehicles per day)[4] partially due to the construction of casinos in Northwest Indiana, and the City of Chicago claims a record number of motorists used the skyway in 2002.
In 2003 and 2004 a $250 million project rehabilitated and widened the Skyway. The project involved extensive work on the cantilever span and its approaches that included replacing the bridge's structural steel and rebuilding the piers that support the structure, and reconstructing the bridge deck. Because the City of Chicago required the Skyway to remain open during construction, engineers had to construct temporary bridge piers that would bear the load of the bridge and its traffic while new piers were built. Once ready, the bridge was lifted up onto the temporary temporary piers using 600 ton hydraulic jacks, the old piers were removed, and new ones were built. Crews also devised innovative methods for replacing the bridge's structural steel, replacing steel members one at a time. This process involved installing hydraulic chords around the component to be replaced. The bridge load was then transferred to the hydraulic chord, the steel member was removed and a new steel member was then installed.[5]
Recently, major construction on both the Kingery and Borman expressways has increased traffic on the Skyway, as well as the presence of riverboat casinos in Hammond and East Chicago, Indiana. In June of 2005 the Skyway became compatible with electronic toll collection and users can now pay using I-PASS or E-ZPass transponders.
The Chicago Skyway was a part of the New York-Chicago Toll Road system. The City of Chicago's Department of Streets and Sanitation formerly maintained the Chicago Skyway Toll Bridge System. A transaction that gave the City of Chicago a $1.83 billion dollar cash infusion leased the Skyway to the Skyway Concession Company (SCC), a joint-venture between the Australian Macquarie Infrastructure Group and Spanish Cintra Concesiones de Infraestructuras de Transporte S.A., which assumed operations on the Skyway on a 99-year operating lease. SCC will be responsible for all operating and maintenance costs of the Skyway but has the right to all toll and concession revenue. The Triple-A bond insurer Financial Security Assurance Inc. (FSA) has guaranteed $1.4 billion of senior bonds to provide long-term funding for the privately operated Chicago Skyway. On June 30, 2006, this same joint-venture assumed responsibility for operating and maintaining the adjacent Indiana East-West Toll Road for $3.8 billion. This agreement between SCC and the City of Chicago is the first privatization of an existing toll road anywhere in the United States, the city was advised by Goldman Sachs & Co.[citation needed]
Historically, the Chicago Skyway was signed as and was widely considered to be part of I-90. However, around 1999, the City of Chicago realized they had never received official approval to designate the skyway as I-90. (In addition, it is not built to Interstate standards, although recently there have been substantial upgrades.) The city subsequently replaced most of the "I-90" signage with "TO I-90" signage. However, the Illinois DOT has always and continues to report the skyway as part of the Interstate system, and the Federal Highway Administration apparently still considers the Chicago Skyway an official part of I-90.[6]
The Skyway's official name, referring to it as a toll bridge rather than a toll road, is the result of a legal quirk. At the time of its construction, the city charter of Chicago did not provide the authority to construct a toll road. However, the city could build toll bridges, and it was found that there was no limit to the length of the approaches to the bridge. Therefore, the Skyway is technically a toll bridge with a six-mile-long approach. This also is part of the reason that there are no exits available until after one has crossed the bridge and paid the toll.[citation needed]
[edit] Exit list
See Interstate 90 in Illinois.
[edit] References
- ^ Skyway Concession Company, LLC (2005). Chicago Skyway. Retrieved on 2007-07-07.
- ^ Chicago Area Transportation Study. System Facilities. Retrieved on 2007-07-07.
- ^ McClendon, Dennis (2005). Skyway. Retrieved on 2007-07-07.
- ^ Illinois Department of Transportation (2005). Getting Around Illinois. Retrieved on 2007-07-07.
- ^ [http://www.enerpac.com/html/Projects/Chicago_Skyway/Skyway.html Chicago Skyway Rehab: Hydraulics Boost Productivity Enerpac Hydraulics Inc.]
- ^ Samuel, Peter. "Skyway is Interstate-90 unless state withdraws reports - Feds", TOLLROADSnews, 2005-06-29. Retrieved on 2007-01-20.
[edit] External resources
- Official website of the Chicago Skyway
- Chicago Skyway to Implement Electronic Toll Collection
- Chicago Department of Transportation
- Best of Transportation Page
- Historic American Engineering Record (Library of Congress)
- Illinois Highways
- Chicago Skyway Rehab
Categories: All articles with unsourced statements | Articles with unsourced statements since September 2007 | Articles with unsourced statements since October 2007 | Bridges completed in 1958 | Bridges in Illinois | Chicago metropolitan area | Toll bridges in Illinois | Toll roads in Illinois | Tolled sections of Interstate Highways | Interstate 90
