Bridging the Drive

Ten finalists and twelve non-finalists are posted on CAF's web site for the "Bridging the Drive" competition, envisioning a series of bridges from 43rd Street up to North Avenue. The bridges are: a) at 35th Street over Lake Shore Drive (LSD), b) at 41st and 43rd Streets over Metra railroad tracks and LSD, c) over the Chicago River at LSD, and d) a replacement of the existing footbridge over LSD near North Avenue.

While the entries are international - with firms like Alsop Architects, Wilkinson Eyre and Richard Rogers Partnership - the last is the only non-Chicago office that made it to the final ten, for their design for bridge a:



The other nine:


Annex 5 (c)


Cordogan, Clark & Associates (b)


Lohan Caprile Goettsch (d)


Murphy/Jahn (c,d)


OWP&P (d)


Phillips Swager Associates (d)


Teng (a)


3d Design Studio (a,b)


Wight and Company with Ed Windhorst (a,c)

If it were up to me I would probably vote for the following, after only a cursory glance at the finalists:

a) Wight and Windhorst
b) 3d Studio (alt. Cordogan, Clark)
c) Annex 5 (alt. Murphy/Jahn)
d) OWP&P

Outside of the second bridge, masts would landmark the bridges, acting as visual anchors along the lakeshore and LSD, as well as areas near the lake. Could be just what this city needs.