Van Buren Street over Union Station Tracks

Cook County, Illinois · rated Fair in the 2025 National Bridge Inventory

United States Bridge Conditions2025 National Bridge Inventory, FHWACompiled August 20, 2026

• Van Buren Street over Union Station Tracks in Cook County, Illinois, is rated in fair condition in the 2025 National Bridge Inventory (as of August 20, 2026).
• Its lowest-rated component is the deck, rated 5 (fair condition) on the 0-9 scale.
• It was built in 1920 and reconstructed in 1987, making it 105 years old at the 2025 inventory.
• It carries about 6,200 vehicles a day (traffic count year 2022).
• Its listed owner is a city or municipal highway agency.
• It is one of 1,004 of the 1,722 inventoried bridges in Cook County rated fair (58.3%); 246 (14.3%) are rated poor.
• Its traffic status in the 2025 inventory is posted for load (NBI item 41).
• Its condition class and component ratings are unchanged from the 2024 inventory.
• Its most recent inspection on record is dated May 2023, on a 24-month routine inspection cycle.
• It has fracture-critical members (NBI item 92A): steel tension members without a redundant load path, which get their own scheduled inspections.
• A fair rating means the lowest-rated major component scores 5 or 6 on FHWA's 0-9 scale: some deterioration or minor section loss, but the structure is sound. It is the middle class, not a warning.

View this bridge on a map → (41.87679, -87.63803)

Component ratings

Bridge details

Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2025 data as reported by the Illinois department of transportation.

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