DOWNTOWN — Federal regulations required the city to open the DuSable Lake Shore Drive bridge for a passing vessel Wednesday despite the extreme heat that caused it to malfunction, according to the Chicago Department of Transportation.
As a result, the bridge failed to fully close for more than four hours, triggering a major downtown traffic backup.
Experts and commuters have questioned why the bridge was opened to let a cruise boat pass through, given the fact that extreme heat can cause steel to expand and create issues with the movable bridge lowering and locking back into place…