“Reconstruction of the Darrow Bridge has been pushed back to fall 2028, the Chicago Department of Transportation wrote in an April 6 email to the Jackson Park Advisory Council.

“The news came about an hour and a half before CDOT was scheduled to give a presentation on the bridge’s reconstruction during the council’s regular April meeting.

As Scott spoke, several JPAC members sighed and tittered with wry amusement. Adams hadn’t attended a JPAC meeting since June 2025, when she presented CDOT’s preliminary plan and promised to provide regular updates, including attending future meetings.

“The April meeting was not the first time CDOT had changed its timeline for the Darrow Bridge project.

“Until its closure in late 2013, the bridge served as a principal route for pedestrians and cyclists traveling between the lakefront and the neighboring Hyde Park and Woodlawn communities. Most cyclists and pedestrians now use the 55th or 57th Street viaducts to access the lakefront, both more than half a mile northeast of the bridge.

“The Darrow Bridge was built in 1880 and repurposed in 1895 after the World’s Columbian Exposition. The bridge acquired its vernacular name — it is officially called the Columbia Drive Bridge — more than four decades later, after famed lawyer Clarence Darrow, who was known to pace the bridge while practicing his oratory to fish in the lagoon.

“Over the following decades, the bridge fell into disrepair. As early as 1968, community members wrote letters to the Hyde Park Herald urging the city to repair it. In 2014, restoration efforts formalized when JPAC began circulating a petition demanding the city fix the bridge. (Monaghan, Hyde Park Herald, 6/18/25)

“In June 2025, the Herald reported that city officials had presented restoration plans four times over the previous decade, each promising to complete repairs within roughly two years. Those proposals included replacing the structure entirely or repairing the existing bridge with modifications. During the June 2025 meeting, CDOT officials said they would restore the bridge based on its 1895 design and reopen it, though the process could take a couple of years. (Monaghan, Hyde Park Herald, 4/10/26)

“The June 2, 2025 JPAC meeting, however, marked the first time that restoring the bridge to its 1895 form was proposed by CDOT as the goal for its repair.

“‘This is the most historic structure I have ever worked on,’ Tanera Adams, a CDOT project manager said. ‘We’re (restoring) basically what’s there but making it more safe.’

“News of the bridge’s potential preservation comes just a few months after it landed on Preservation Chicago’s 2025 annual list of the city’s ‘most endangered’ historic sites for the first time.

“‘It’s very encouraging that they are going to shoot for the highest preservation standards,’ said Jack Spicer, a member of JPAC’s Darrow Bridge Committee, after the meeting.

“The plan for historical preservation of the bridge, the email continues, prioritizes repairing and reusing historic materials, such as limestone blocks, railings and uprights to restore it to its 1895 appearance.” (Monaghan, Hyde Park Herald, 6/18/25)

Preservation Chicago has been concerned about the deteriorating condition of the Clarence Darrow Memorial Bridge / Columbia Bridge and have advocated, along with local preservation partners such as the Clarence Darrow Bridge Coalition and Hyde Park Historical Society, for the historic sensitive restoration for the bridge for over 20 years. We are encouraged by CDOT’s current restoration direction, but we will stay closed engaged with the effort throughout the process. We have seen many false starts over the past decade. Additionally, its important that final restoration design reflects the stated historic goals.

Read the full story at Hyde Park Herald

• Darrow Bridge reconstruction pushed to fall 2028 as CDOT skips JPAC meeting, Marc Monaghan, Hyde Park Herald, 4/10/26
• City says Darrow Bridge will be preserved, but it might take years, Marc Monaghan, Hyde Park Herald, 6/18/25
• Darrow Bridge named one of Preservation Chicago’s ‘most endangered’ structures, Hyde Park Herald staff, Hyde Park Herald, 3/12/25
• Hyde Park Stories: Darrow Bridge, Patricia L. Morse, Hyde Park Herald, 3/6/23
• Clarence Darrow Memorial Bridge / Columbia Bridge, a Preservation Chicago 2025 Chicago 7 Most Endangered