CHICAGO NORTH SIDE WATER MAIN BREAK Points Up Cracks in City's Infrastructure!
THREE-FOOT DIAMETER, 100-YEAR-OLD PIPE BURSTS IN CHICAGO'S EAST RAVENSWOOD NEIGHBORHOOD - NO WARNING!
This photo from yesterday's Chicago Tribune, taken by photographer Nancy Stone, shows the damage created by a burst water main in the middle of busy Montrose Avenue, at the intersection of Honore Street, just west of the Montrose station of the Brown Line (Ravenswood) L. The pipe burst Tuesday morning, January 22nd, at around 1:30 AM, without warning, and immediately flooded several locally-owned businesses on both sides of the street.
View the entire photo gallery of the damage by clicking here. Read the story by Tribune Reporter Kristen Kridel, and watch related video, via the Chicago Tribune online website.
Cars parked on both the north and south sides of Montrose Avenues were submerged in several feet of water, and. later, covered in mud. Until the pipes were capped around 7:00 Tuesday morning, it appeared as if a running river of water was flowing beneath street level.
Although the L trains kept running on the nearby Brown Line tracks, many of the affected business had to close through Wednesday. The City of Chicago will be working around the clock to repair the damage - they estimate it may be a week, possibly longer, to complete street repairs.
Luckily, no one was injured by the break, and water flowed uninterrupted to the nearby neighborhood.
This pipe breach was similar to one that occurred last summer on Cottage Grove Avenue near 67th Street, on the South Side of Chicago. Again, no warning there as well. The city estimates there are several hundred water main breaks each year - but most offer some warning, such as bubbling water in an alley or parkway, reported by a neighbor.
About 20% of Chicago's estimated 4,300 miles water supply pipes are between 85 and 125 years old, with many of the older pipes in the city's outlying neighborhoods that underwent a population boom in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. These old, obsolete pipes are forged of cast iron, with far less flexibility than modern materials. Chicago is replacing the old pipe at the rate of about 40 miles per year, with a new iron alloy far less susceptible to temperature extremes.
However, the collapse points up the miles of older infrastructure, at or near the end of it's useful life, throughout not only Chicago, but in many older cities across the U.S. Although experts estimate the condition of the Chicago infrastructure is much better than that in other, older Eastern U.S. Cities - much needs to be repaired, to avoid local disruptions, with potentially dangerous consequences, such as this one.
Kristen Kridel and Steve Schmadeke of the Tribune wrote a follow-up story , with additional video, in today's Tribune.
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