Skyway perch

The Chicago Skyway has always fascinated me.  It’s a high-arching toll bridge that runs over the industrial hinterland hugging the Lake south of the city.  It’s nearly unavoidable if you want to go to Indiana or Michigan because it’s by far the fastest route there from the city.

Unfortunately, it’s very difficult to take good photographs of the Skyway scenes.  It’s wouldn’t be safe to pull over on the bridge itself, and its structure obstructs many of the views.  The approaches to it are steeply sloping, so the resulting pictures are angled in funny ways.

It’s too bad, because the area around the bridge is an ungodly mix of aging industrial and maritime sites.  There are marshes and canals nearly invisible in the thicket of hoists, bridges, and junk heaps.  The area, so strewn and cluttered, nonetheless foregrounds interesting views of the Lake and city skyline.  So I always do try to take pictures when I’m on the Skyway, even though they don’t usually turn out.

I managed to take this one that isn’t too bad.  It shows some strange little buildings that are somehow necessary to a massive hoist that is near the Skyway and, for some reason, nearly as tall as the Skyway itself.

Someday I would like to go see this no-man’s-land at ground level, but for now this one picture will have to do.

PS  This picture on Wikipedia shows the location of the hoist next to the Bridge.