The northbound section of the lake road must remain closed during daily commutes due to a cracked steel beam



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Part of the north shore drive of Lake Shore Drive will remain closed for much of Tuesday after workers uncover a cracked steel beam that supports the roadway, officials said Monday.

The northbound road from Monroe Street to Grand Avenue should be closed until at least Tuesday afternoon, city officials said.

Chicago Transportation Commissioner Rebekah Scheinfeld said the crews would work overnight on a temporary solution to the problem and hoped the road would be reopened in time for. Rush hour Tuesday night.

"We will only reopen this bridge to traffic if we are sure we can do it safely," Scheinfeld said at a press conference Monday evening.

The road was closed northbound at Randolph from approximately 11:15 am "during the survey of the bridge.", Said the Chicago police in a media notification. An "incident with structural damage" closed all northbound lanes and shoulders between Monroe Drive and Grand Avenue, according to a notification from the city's Emergency Management and Communications Office, published through travelmidwest.com.

Shoring tower as quickly as possible under the viaduct structure that carries the north shore of Lake Shore Drive, "said the city's Transportation Department in a press release. "The road will be closed during the peak period of Monday (afternoon) and perhaps longer."

Cars can access the drive in a northerly direction from "Lower Wacker Drive" to the ramp. Grand Avenue entrance, but the ramp connecting Randolph Street to Lake Shore According to the CDOT

cars were diverted from Hike and Monroe north of Lake Shore Drive, westbound, towards Columbus, in North and back, "according to the CDOT.

Police were heading south, police said.

Damaged section just south of double-decker steel bridge tilts to the river Chicago, built in 1937. It is one of the busiest structural bridges deficient bridges in the state, according to the American Road & Transportation Builders Association, a professional group based in Washington using the figures of the Fe deral Highway Administration. The association said the bridge was "obsolete from a functional point of view".

The term "structural deficiency" means that a bridge needs to be repaired or rebuilt, according to the association. The Chicago Department of Transportation plans to repair this bridge at the same time as the project to build a bicycle path with the raised Navy Pier bridge

CDOT spokesman, Michael Claffey, did not could not tell if the damaged beam was the same age as the bridge of the time of the depression. P. Sriraj, director of the Urban Transportation Center at the University of Illinois at Chicago, said that it was possible that both elements were built at the same time.

Sriraj said the incident showed the need to invest in infrastructure in the state and the nation.

"What needs to be taken into account, is that Illinois is the third largest number of bridges and that a significant amount is structurally deficient, 16%," Sriraj said. .

Sriraj also said that Illinois had spent only $ 2.6 billion. fill the improvements over six years, while the needs are $ 10 billion. The national need is $ 2 trillion, he said.

"This gives you an idea of ​​the scarcity of funds we have," Sriraj said.

million. Sriraj said the problem was probably related to the age of the bridge. [19659002] "All these bridges were built with advanced technology," Sriraj said. "They did not receive their fair contribution in terms of routine maintenance. If you neglect an asset of this magnitude for an extended period, you are really in trouble, especially if you consider that the number of vehicle-miles has increased. "

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