Welcome to the Roadscapes Wednesday segment! Each week here on Geek Alabama, Roadscapes Wednesday will feature roads and infrastructure related topics. Geek Alabama Editor / Publisher Nathan Young is often called the “road geek” for a good reason, Nathan loves roads and loves talking about roads!

If you’ve ever driven toward Chicago and watched a full-sized jet roll directly over a highway, you’ve seen one of America’s strangest transportation designs hiding in plain sight. At O’Hare International Airport, airplanes don’t just cross runways—they cross highways, rolling over bridges originally built for cars.

This episode explores how Chicago’s obsession with layered infrastructure—from elevated trains to underground freight tunnels—led to the creation of aircraft bridges spanning the Kennedy Expressway. Built in the 1960s to support the weight and forces of jets like the Boeing 747, these structures allowed O’Hare to expand without sacrificing vital roadways. What looks bizarre today is actually the result of decades of engineering, growth, and a city determined to stay America’s transportation crossroads.

Roadscapes Wednesday: The Garden State Parkway Explained Roadscapes Wednesday: Pennsylvania’s Abandoned Turnpike Tunnels Roadscapes Wednesday: New York’s Busiest Bridge | The George Washington Bridge