Chicago Alderpeople Move to Strip Landmark Status From 124-Year-Old Cortland Bridge

Two Chicago alderpeople are moving to strip landmark protections from the Cortland Street bridge, a 124-year-old span connecting Bucktown and Lincoln Park that has sat closed to vehicle traffic for a year with no end date in sight for repairs.

Alds. Brian Hopkins (2nd) and Scott Waguespack (32nd) told Block Club Chicago last week they intend to introduce an ordinance to the City Council this month rescinding the bridge's landmark status, which it has held for more than 30 years. This would be the first time in 40 years that Chicago has removed landmark protections from a structure, preservationists and city officials said.

The Chicago Department of Transportation shut the bridge down in September 2025 for what was supposed to be an 18-to-24-month rehabilitation, replacing the deck, sidewalks and other components. Workers later found the bridge's problems were "more extensive than anticipated," transportation department spokesperson Erica Schroeder said last month, and the project timeline has since stretched into years with no new completion date announced. The bridge remains open to pedestrians and cyclists but closed to cars.

Waguespack, whose ward includes the bridge, said city engineers told him in August they could not give him a timeline for how much further the project would be delayed. "They just had no answer for repairing the bridge, and I said that's unacceptable," he said.

Hopkins said the closure has pushed traffic onto other North Side streets already strained by nearby construction. The Chicago Avenue bridge and the Halsted Street viaduct near Goose Island are also closed and not expected to reopen until at least later this year. "The domino effect of cascading congestion that has fanned out from Cortland is just untenable, and it's creating extreme congestion all over the North Side, and that really has an impact on people's quality of life," Hopkins said.

Bucktown resident Steve Jensen, who has lived in the neighborhood for decades, described the resulting backups as a "nightmare" for drivers trying to move between Bucktown and Lincoln Park.

Hopkins said stripping the landmark designation would "open up a greater level of flexibility" for designing and installing a replacement bridge. "The time has come to replace that bridge," he said.

But the transportation department cautioned that removing the city's local landmark protections would not by itself clear the way for a new bridge. A department spokesperson said last week that officials are weighing whether to rehab or replace the structure, and that state and federal historic preservation rules covering the bridge remain in place regardless of what the City Council does.

Hopkins acknowledged that limitation in a newsletter sent to ward residents Friday, writing that the ordinance "would not necessarily provide the department staff the latitude they need to move this project forward faster." He added that he still wants to act because "it is important to me that the level of government for which I am responsible not stand in the way of proper upkeep and improvements to this bridge."

The Cortland Street bridge was built in 1902 using a fixed trunnion bascule design developed by city engineers, a style later copied across Chicago and around the world. A 1989 landmark report on the bridge noted that the design is known internationally as the "Chicago style" bascule bridge. The bridge has closed for rehabilitation work several times over the decades.

Preservationists oppose the rescission, warning it could set a precedent that makes it easier to strip protections from other historic structures in the city. They have proposed alternatives, including building a new bridge nearby while leaving Cortland's span intact, or relocating the existing structure for reuse elsewhere. One idea circulating among preservationists is incorporating the current bridge into the long-planned extension of the 606's Bloomingdale Trail across the Chicago River.

No hearing date has been set for the proposed ordinance, and it is unclear how quickly the City Council's Committee on Housing and Real Estate or the Committee on Zoning, Landmarks and Building Standards would take it up once introduced. The transportation department has not said when it will decide between rehabilitating or replacing the bridge, or when a new project timeline might be released. Until then, the detour around Cortland Street remains the only option for drivers moving between Bucktown and Lincoln Park.