Located in Elgin beneath US-20, this large deck girder bridge was the northern of the two crossings of the Fox River at this location.
The bridge was built in 1905 and 1926. In 1905, the three of the original 1881 spans were replaced. An upgrade to the bridge replaced the other 1881 spans in 1926. The bridge consisted of six spans of deck girder, set onto stone and concrete substructures.
Large deck girder bridges like this are common, as they were cheap and easy to build. However, this was a single track bridge on an otherwise double tracked route. Because of this, it was a major bottleneck for Metra trains.
In 2017, work began to build a new bridge. A new track immediately west of the new bridge was under construction as of late 2018, and the old spans were removed and replaced in 2019 and 2020. The new bridge is of similar design, although built for double track service.
Overall, the bridge was in fair to poor condition, with deterioration that was not feasible to repair. At the time of replacement, 54 Metra trains and 6-8 Canadian Pacific trains would cross the single track bridge daily.
The author has ranked the bridge as being locally significant, due to the common design.
The photo above is an overview.
| Upstream | Carpentersville Rail Bridge |
| Downstream | Elgin Rail Bridge (South) |