DING DING DING DING
DING DING DING DING
The sweet sweet alert
DING DING DING DING
DING DING DING DING
The sound of summer starting.
DING DING DING DING
DING DING DING DING
Summer is here!
When the weather gets warm, sailboats in Chicago sail down the Chicago River to the harbors of Lake Michigan. Along the way, every bridge opens one-by-one to let the sailboats pass by.
Bells ring DING DING DING DING when a single bridge prepares to open. Railroad-style gates lower down onto the street, halting traffic. Cars, buses, pedestrians, and baby strollers are all blocked from crossing the bridge, waiting for the sailboats to slowly cruise on by.
One of the biggest bridges with the most traffic is the Michigan Avenue double-decker bridge. This structure of metal and two levels of road are lifted for dainty boats to float by.
The sounds of DING DING DING DING dancing along to their own rhythm.
The immensity of this bridge is so massive, and yet you can stand right next to it. When this bridge opens, you will probably never see anything this large open. The closest thing might be a retractable baseball field roof. But domed roof is many stories away. Nor can you walk over a baseball roof. This bridge you can see right up close. And walk over the bridge—when it’s closed. But while it’s open, you hear DING DING DING DING.
For 16 years, I worked in the Tribune Tower facing this bridge. In fact for 14 of those years, my desk had a window with a direct view of the Michigan Avenue bridge.
I would be happily working at my desk, and then hear DING DING DING DING. That was my signal to jump up on my desk and take photos of the bridge opening.
Such a wonderful joy to have this little break from work. A truly Chicago occurrence that happens every year with the boats entering Lake Michigan. As the boats enter Lake Michigan, they signal Chicago entering summer.
The start of summer is here! I would snap photos and share them online. People love the change in seasons, especially the arrival of summer.
Once a week Chicago would repeat this surprise over the course of 10-12 weeks. (Not all the boats do this all at the same time. That would be crazy. They space the boats out over different days, so they don’t get all jammed up on the river.)
It was my beloved tradition to take a photo every year of this annual event. Some years I would try to do something different with the photo. Tri-color, motion blur, panos, different angles, and various other techniques. (See the full album of Michigan Bridge openings on Flickr).
(The story continues after these photos.)
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
No photo from my window, but here’s one from the river:
2017
No photo from my window.
In the past two years, this amazing event was taken away from me. Tribune Publishing moved everyone onto two floors in the building. I moved from the 14th floor down to the third floor facing away from the river. I missed the unexpected surprise of hearing the DING DING DING DING.
2018
Today, I am outside taking my lunch break. when the DING DING DING DING fills the air. The gates lower. The traffic stops.
OH THE BRIDGES ARE RAISING! THE BRIDGES ARE RAISING!
My mind races to how I can photograph the bridge raising.
The brand new Apple Store sits immediately right by the bridge (yes, THAT Apple store). Outside the store is a wonderful public plaza. This newly constructed plaza provides an angle I used to capture the bridge raising.
I race down the flowing threads of stairs to the plaza. People lounge in the sun wondering what’s going on with all the DING DING DING DING sounds.
Certainly enough, the bridges raise up. Three sailboats go by, and the bridge goes back down.
As the bridges go back down, I cross Michigan Avenue to head to Walgreens. The DING DING DING DING alerts were still ringing from the bridge’s gates. Hearing the sound so crisply and clearly brought tears to my eyes.
Just that visceral sound. DING DING DING DING. That is one of my sounds of joy.
I was going to ask if you had any idea how much the bridge weighed (and was also curious about how much force it took to lower it)… a quick google found this page https://www.aisc.org/modernsteel/news/2015/may/chicagos-michigan-avenue-bridge-turns-95/ that says:
“A trunnion bascule is a balanced horizontal seesaw with unequal arms – the longer arm is the bridge leaf over the river, and the shorter arm supports the much larger counter weight on the shore. The leaf weight of the Michigan Avenue Bridge is approximately 4,100 tons, while the counter weight is around 12,000 tons. Because it is balanced, only a small amount of external energy is required to raise and lower the bridge. Two 108-horse-power electric motors and a simple gearing system generate the power necessary to raise each half of the bridge in about one minute.”
I was surprised by the weight of the counterweight, and was expecting much more powerful motors.
Yeah! It’s incredible. In one of the bridge towers of the Michigan Avenue bridge is the McCormick Bridgehouse & Chicago River Museum. They had a free open house one day, so I went for a tour. The guide said it takes only the power of a lawn mower to open and close the bridge.