In 1902 it was proposed to widen LaSalle Street in Chicago and improve access from the Loop to the north side of the Chicago river, but the bridge design was not approved until 1916, when the notorious "Big Bill" Thompson served his 1st term as mayor; his public works projects earned him the nickname "Big Bill the Builder." The single-deck double-leaf trunnion bascule bridge was constructed in 1928 by the Strobel Steel Constructing Company. (A bascule bridge is a drawbridge with a counterweight that continuously balances a leaf [span] throughout its upward swing to provide clearance for boat traffic. A fixed-trunnion rotates around a large axle that raises the leaf; this type of bridge is often called a "Chicago" bascule.) In 1999 the Chicago City Council renamed it the Marshall Suloway Bridge in honor of a former public works commissioner. The sieur de La Salle was a 17th-century French explorer who sailed down the Mississippi river from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico ad claimed the entire Mississippi basin for France, naming it Louisiana.
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ReplyDeleteIn 1902 it was proposed to widen LaSalle Street in Chicago and improve access from the Loop to the north side of the Chicago river, but the bridge design was not approved until 1916, when the notorious "Big Bill" Thompson served his 1st term as mayor; his public works projects earned him the nickname "Big Bill the Builder." The single-deck double-leaf trunnion bascule bridge was constructed in 1928 by the Strobel Steel Constructing Company. (A bascule bridge is a drawbridge with a counterweight that continuously balances a leaf [span] throughout its upward swing to provide clearance for boat traffic. A fixed-trunnion rotates around a large axle that raises the leaf; this type of bridge is often called a "Chicago" bascule.) In 1999 the Chicago City Council renamed it the Marshall Suloway Bridge in honor of a former public works commissioner. The sieur de La Salle was a 17th-century French explorer who sailed down the Mississippi river from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico ad claimed the entire Mississippi basin for France, naming it Louisiana.