Posted on 10/14/2009 1:06:56 PM PDT by slapshot
The public is being warned to avoid downtown Chicago expressways after pavement was damaged during construction work on the northbound Kennedy Expressway at Adams Street. "We're advising people to stay off the downtown expressways for the next 24 hours," said Marisa Kollias, a spokeswoman for the Illinois Department of Transportation. "This is a major crisis." Workers were pumping concrete into an underground freight tunnel this morning when "pressure made the road erupt," according to an IDOT dispatcher. Two right lanes of the northbound Kennedy have been closed. It was not known how long the lanes would be shut down. The damaged pavement is just north of where the Kennedy connects to the Dan Ryan and Eisenhower expressways. Kollias said the eastbound Eisenhower ramp leading to the northbound Kennedy will be closed this afternoon. Also closed is the westbound Congress Parkway ramp to the northbound Kennedy, and the Kennedy's northbound Taylor Street exit ramp. Kollias suggested motorists take the tollways or Ogden Avenue for alternate routes. She said there will also bemessage signs along the Kennedy alerting motorists where to detour.
(Excerpt) Read more at link.chicagotribune.com ...
The public is being warned to avoid downtown Chicago expressways after pavement was damaged during construction work on the northbound Kennedy Expressway at Adams Street.
"We're advising people to stay off the downtown expressways for the next 24 hours," said Marisa Kollias, a spokeswoman for the Illinois Department of Transportation. "This is a major crisis."
Workers were pumping concrete into an underground freight tunnel this morning when "pressure made the road erupt," according to an IDOT dispatcher.
Two right lanes of the northbound Kennedy have been closed. It was not known how long the lanes would be shut down.
The damaged pavement is just north of where the Kennedy connects to the Dan Ryan and Eisenhower Expressways.
Kollias said the eastbound Eisenhower ramp leading to the northbound Kennedy would be closed this afternoon. Also closed would be the westbound Congress Parkway ramp to the northbound Kennedy, and the Kennedy's northbound Taylor Street exit ramp.
Kollias suggested that motorists travel on the tollways or Ogden Avenue for alternate routes. She said there will also be changeable message signs along the Kennedy alerting motorists where to reroute.
--Jeremy Gorner
I HATE it when that happens!
Seems like no one under 40 can do anything right these days.
Roadside conversation: “Hey it ain't my job to watch the road. All I was told to do was pour concrete into the hole. Oh that is what happened??, Ain't my fault talk to my steward..”
Based upon the photos in your link, the damage to the concrete seems related to moisture and freeze-thaw cycles. The concrete appears to have spalled off vs. being impacted. Poor concrete mix with too much water and/or insufficient admixture could be the problem. The path of moisture entry into the concrete is pretty obvious.
Once exposed, the reinforcing bars will rust and any strength they provide will be diminished, leading to some support failure for the beams above.
Ooooooo. One of my favorite games!
Kennedy: I-190, downtown to O’Hare
Eisenhower: I-290, Downtown to (ultimately) West Suburbs
Ryan: I-94, 95th to the I-294 interchange
How’d I do?
(I played this game when I lived in Detroit, too!)
In other words, just another typical Chicago Union quality job?
Some years ago I worked Union road construction in and around the Chicago area. Some of the material we laid was garbage.
I read that differently the first time
We have some of the highest gas taxes, and prices, in the country. You can fill up in St. Louis, Missouri, drive 5 hours up to Chicago, and see gas go up over 50 cents.
Yet when the Olympic committee came to town, they mapped out winding strategic routes to get from the airport to the hotels to hit the least-pitiful roads possible so they wouldn’t realize they were in a ghetto.
According to an IDIOT dispatcher. There, fixed it.
ID(I)OT at its finest. Notice in the picture a total of 8 “workers” standing around - 6 in foreground 2 across road and 2 actually doing something.
Stimulus at work? Screw something up real bad to create more standing around jobs.
Truer words have never been spoken; although I mush say that union electricians and HVAC folks do much better than the concrete guys. I have also had union masons on projects and they’re pretty good, too.
On one public works project, the concrete guys actually stole sand from the masonry subcontractor. Nothing like one big, happy construction team - NOT!
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