Chicago River bridge stuck aloft for hours due to extreme heat
A downtown Chicago bridge remained raised for over four hours on Wednesday after high temperatures caused its components to expand, halting traffic until it was lowered around 2:30 p.m.
Around 10 a.m. on Wednesday, the DuSable Lake Shore Drive bridge spanning the Chicago River at Grand Avenue was raised for a routine boat passage. Unusually high temperatures caused the bridge's metal components to expand, stopping the two leaves from fully meeting and leaving the bridge stuck in the up position. The Chicago Department of Transportation, with assistance from the Chicago Fire Department, applied cooling measures and made adjustments that allowed the bridge to be lowered shortly before 2:30 p.m., restoring traffic flow.
The outage created significant congestion downtown as motorists were diverted to other streets. The incident occurred amid a wave of extreme heat that began on Tuesday, prompting the National Weather Service to issue heat advisories for two consecutive days. Officials attributed the malfunction directly to the heat-induced expansion of the bridge parts.
Why it matters
The bridge shutdown disrupted downtown traffic and highlights infrastructure vulnerability to extreme heat.
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