Sunday afternoon traffic:

 

I like how there is a lot going on in the alleys so far as individual property owners modifying their buildings. 

 

Rode 33 miles around town on Monday:

 

 

Former roommate:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Plenty of space here for bikes without needing a designated bike lane, but I found the noise from the overhead trains to be really distracting and dangerous while biking. 

 

I thought that this was one of the best newer buildings downtown -- modest but not boring:

 

Metra tracks:

 

I'm guessing the air rights are available for this section in the foreground:

 

You have to admit that double-deck draw bridges are pretty damn interesting and I don't think exist anywhere else in the country:

 

 

Again, the drawbridges are pretty interesting, since they're all old and slightly different designs:

 

 

 

 

 

Are they required to back in?  If so does it have something to do with headlights shining into nearby buildings?

 

Capitol Records, Chicago office:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The world-famous bike lane:

 

 

 

Somebody biking in the wrong lane...can't wait for one of those finger wagging whistle blowing bike gurus to come along and ENFORCE THE RULES:

 

 

View from Ashland Ave. bridge:

 

 

nice. although i worried for you a bit with that shot in the middle of traffic.

 

i love we're all going along for the ride type threads. its inspirational even.

The problem with bikes is that you can't take a tripod on them.  You need a tripod to take the best architectural shots.  A step above that (get it!) is to take around a 6-foot step ladder and clamp the tripod to the top of the ladder in order to get above the level of parked cars and other sidewalk obstructions.  Even more involved is renting a scissor lift and wearing an orange vest so that people think you got a permit.  And the ultimate is getting a permit to shut down the street and you show up with a crew of 18, including a fog machine, ala Gregory Crewdson. 

lol you are pretty 'out there' jmeck. but wait, what does that mean when i 'get' everything you said? ha.

 

related to your point, i dont mind waiting or climbing on stuff for a better shot. it so happens at the moment i'm in the market for a new point and shoot camera i can fit in my pocket and use fairly inconspicuously. i have one more thread coming up using my iphone and thats it, ive had it with that crap. i get the b&h catalogs in the mail and i have the new one, but havent looked at it yet. things to do today (lets see if you get that one ha - its related to your thread).

Are they required to back in?  If so does it have something to do with headlights shining into nearby buildings?

 

NIMBYs, I tell ya...

lol you are pretty 'out there' jmeck. but wait, what does that mean when i 'get' everything you said? ha.

 

related to your point, i dont mind waiting or climbing on stuff for a better shot. it so happens at the moment i'm in the market for a new point and shoot camera i can fit in my pocket and use fairly inconspicuously. i have one more thread coming up using my iphone and thats it, ive had it with that crap. i get the b&h catalogs in the mail and i have the new one, but havent looked at it yet. things to do today (lets see if you get that one ha - its related to your thread).

 

The camera is pretty good on the iPhone 5, which I have, but the problem is that it's good enough that it discourages me from taking my real camera out.  So I'm basically not taking advantage of the money invested in a $1,000+ DSLR. 

 

Every once in awhile you get lucky with a camera and get a good shot without having to do anything special.  If you walk around for an hour every day by the end of the year you could have dozens of great shots that fell in your lap.  But you have to put more effort into it if you want or need to get a lot of good shots.  The second you're trying to mix photography with another activity (like biking, for example) the photos will suffer (as will the biking).  So if you want to make the most of your time (and equipment) while taking photos, you have to just be there to take photos. 

oh thats right the iphone5 does have a pretty good camera. the new galaxies do too. unfortunately i have a 4s and worse the quality has degraded over time. im holding out for the iphone6. anyway again great job biking and shooting.

Again, the drawbridges are pretty interesting, since they're all old and slightly different designs:

 

Growing up in Milwaukee, the Bascule bridges absolutely fascinated me.  I've spent many days at cafes along the Milwaukee river just watching the bridges lift.  Being on the roadways, it's one of those annoyances you just have to deal with, and ultimately as traffic is stopped you're forced to watch the roadway in front of you turn vertical.  It's a surreal experience, akin to that scene in Inception where Paris gets folded over on itself while the world around keeps moving.  I REALLY love these bridges.

 

It's interesting to note that, while drawbridges have been around since medieval ages, the mechanized version called a Trunnion Bascule wasn't completed until 1902.  Milwaukee was first to experiment with mechanizing the Trunnion Bascule bridge when it built the Juneau Avenue Bascule Bridge in 1840, but unfortunately that bridge was one of many that were destroyed in the Milwaukee Bridge War (http://milwaukeeriverkeeper.org/content/milwaukees-bridge-war).  With the advent of municipal electricity and innovation in steel technology, innovation in bridge design continued and a Chicago engineer, John Ericson, was the designer of the "Chicago-style" Bascule bridge (using the innovative "fixed trunnion" to pivot the bridge quickly) which opened in 1902 on Grand Avenue in MILWAUKEE.  Interestingly enough, the bridge was designed for Cortland Street in Chicago, but bureaucracy delayed construction and Milwaukee bought the plans to build the same bridge in Milwaukee.  The bridges were built simultaneously, but Milwaukee's Grand Avenue Bridge opened two months before Chicago's Cortland Street Bridge.  The Grand Avenue bridge has since been replaced with a Milwaukee-Style Bascule bridge, making Cortland Street the oldest trunnion bridge still standing.

 

The "Milwaukee-Style" Bascule Bridge was developed two years later in 1904 with the opening of the Emmber Lane Bridge, which took the "fixed trunnion" structure above the deck and placed it below the deck in what came to be known as the "simple trunnion" and also the bridge used plate girders instead of truss.  Both bridge types were viable and widely used, but the Milwaukee-Style Bascule ended up becoming the more popular of the two because it was a simpler design which was easier to construct and maintain.  Chicago has more Milwaukee-Style bridges than Chicago style bridges.

 

The double-decker bridges on Lake and Wells Streets were built later, in 1916 and 1922 respectively using the Chicago-style design but extending the truss structure across the span.

 

 

Here's an example of Chicago-Style:

 

Milwaukee-Style:

 

Chicago-Style:

View from Ashland Ave. bridge:

 

 

And here's a lovely video that captures the whimsey of the bridges on a beautiful summer day:

So how often are the bridges opened in Chicago typically?  Do these sailboats have to call ahead?  It looked in this video like a single operator was walking from bridge to bridge. 

There's a bridge operator in every bridge. As a kid, I always wanted that job. In Milwaukee the bridges open whenever a boat comes through and honks their horn to alert the bridge operator. They're opening probably every 20 minutes during the day. I'd imagine it's a similar system in Chicago with some restrictions in the Loop to keep from messing with traffic and El schedules too much. Still, they're moving all day every day in Summer.

Glad you got to ride around on the cycle track!  It's been amazing how much new infrastructure has been built since I've moved here....the biggest one will be the new Navy Pier flyover bridge which will be sort of an expressway for bicyclists. 

 

There is actually no rule or law against lane departure on cycle track.  You can ride on the wrong side if you want.  It's only important to move over for oncoming traffic, but it's just a visual indicator for two way travel.  During commutes, pretty much the whole track will be taken up in either inbound or outbound direction.

 

As for the air rights above the tracks, there's actually an office tower planned for that site... more here:

 

http://150northriverside.com/

 

 

And as for the bridges, they open during fall or spring schedules.  Typically on Wednesdays and Saturdays.  They won't be opening except for construction equipment again until the fall.  It's a spectacular sight to see.

 

The newest bridge on the Chicago River is the wells street bridge.  The century old double deck bridge was aging and finally demolished and replaced with a modern span that looks close to the original.

Yeah we saw bike path construction but didn't know it was for a bride over the river.  I couldn't see how bikes could get over there previously, if at all.  I did find the lakeshore path to have an annoying number of cross streets where bikes had to wait for bumbling tourists.  Bikes also entered the path chaotically at these points.  It's unfortunate that this trail attracts the full gamut of riders from hardcore road bikers to people who haven't ridden a bike since they were 9. 

The path is utter insanity sometimes. Walkers, joggers and reasonable speed bikers make it a wonderful attraction; the Lance Armstrongs deserve an elbow to the nose. Everyone has close calls due to these oblivious idiots