Wells Street Bridge

Wells Street Bridge in Chicago. Double-decked bascule bridge over the Chicago River.

There are only two double-decked bridges in downtown Chicago: Wells Street Bridge and Lake Street Bridge.

The upper deck is used by CTA trains. Wells Street Bridge carries Brown and Purple lines. Lake Street Bridge has Green, Pink and Blue lines.

Both bridges are in the northwest corner of the Loop, the heart of downtown Chicago encircled with elevated “L” rail tracks. Both bridges feed the CTA train traffic in and out of the Loop.

And there are a lot of trains. Almost every minute. Coming in and going from the city.

You can watch the train traffic on both bridges from the Wolf Point on the confluence of South and Main Branches of the Chicago River, the famous Chicago “Y”.

You can not only watch but listen to the sound of trains crossing the bridges.

And it is loud! Very loud. Boom, clank, boom as the train wheels roll over the gaps in the rail tracks.

The metal structure of the bridge works like an amplifier making “boom, clank, boom” reverberate along the Chicago River.

It is the heartbeat of Chicago, the sound of the pumping action of the Chicago Loop, Chicago heart.

As long as you can hear this sound, Chicago is alive.