Ford Motor Plant Pedestrian Bridge

The intersection of 130th St., Brainard Ave., and Torrence Ave. in Chicago is a major artery. Designated as a 911 Critical Crossing with 32,000 vehicles passing though the crossing every day. The daily vehicle delay is estimated at 200 hours. The 2030 vehicle crossing estimate is 60,000. Delays will only get worse. In addition, the intersection serves a major employer the Ford Motor Assembly plant. With all that traffic it is difficult and time consuming for Ford to move the new vehicles into storage lots. The 4,000 Ford employees cannot enter the plant safely. Without an improvement Ford will relocate the plant. The solution is a total revamp of the intersection to allow pedestrians, citizens, train traffic and Ford business related functions to proceed in a safe, timely manner.

Tough Chicago weather requires corrosion protection that can handle heat, rain, wind and icy winter elements...

Big R Bridge was awarded the first step in the crossing renovation a new pedestrian bridge linking the Ford plant with the Ford employee parking lot. Big R Bridge has a solid reputation for engineering, designing, fabricating and installing pedestrian bridges. Pedestrian Bridges can often be installed in hours, using local crews and on-hand equipment saving time and money in the process, galvanizing was specified as the coating based a number of key factors. The first is the Chicago DOT has a long history with galvanizing and understands the benefits for such applications tough Chicago weather requires corrosion protection that can handle heat, rain, wind and icy winter elements, pedestrian interaction with the coating hands and feet wear down lesser coatings, no maintenance required saving time and money, low upfront cost and environmentally friendly. Second, Big R Bridge required a quick turn time. The galvanized bridge would be delivered directly to the intersection and installed the next day. Coordinating traffic control and minimizing the impact on the community was essential. Third, galvanizing adds to the sustainability by delivering 2 LEED credits for Materials and Resources Credit 4 for Recycled Content.

Details

Year Galvanized

2011

Award Class

Newly Complete

Award Sectors

Bridge & Highway

Building & Architecture

Environment

Industrial/Urban

Location

Chicago, IL United States

Reasons for Galvanizing

Aesthetics, Coating Durability, Corrosion Performance, Ease of Specifying, Initial Cost, Life-Cycle Cost, Prior HDG Experience, Quality of HDG, Sustainability, Turnaround Time