Northerly Island path collapse

I rode to Northerly Island last night for the first time since last year and the path on the lake side has completely collapsed in a couple of spots.

Does anyone know of the Parks department's plans about this?  This would be a major reconstruction and would probably require an effective breakwater off the shore to prevent it from being washed out every few months.

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Permalink Reply by JeffB on April 4, 2019 at 6:02am

Also, does anyone know what this new building will be used for?

Permalink Reply by Tooscrapps on April 4, 2019 at 8:30am
Permalink Reply by Jim Reho on August 1, 2019 at 6:13pm

Great report and photos, JeffB.

Chicagoans hold on to a lot of myths.  In reality, the Chicago River has not been a river for a long time, if it ever even was.  Also, Northerly Island is not a real island.  They are both just sad dump sites that the city tries desperately to monetize.  Chicago would be better off being what it is and and not pretending to be what it isn't.  Bobby Douglass wasn't actually a quarterback, either.  

Permalink Reply by curt(is) locke on August 2, 2019 at 3:15am

So, what did all those unfortunate Eastland crew and passengers drown in then, a drainage ditch?

Permalink Reply by Carter O'Brien on August 2, 2019 at 3:39am

Reversing the river kept everyone from dying of waste-related illnesses like cholera. Talks about re-reversing it will likely continue and accelerate as water conservation issues continue to grow in importance with climate change.

Northerly Island was a part of the Burnham Plan of 1909. Well worth a read.

Permalink Reply by curt(is) locke on August 2, 2019 at 4:30am

Talk about Chicago urban myths -- the 1885 cholera outbreak, which is often held out as justification for the reversal of the Chicago River, is now understood to be myth.

Permalink Reply by Carter O'Brien on August 2, 2019 at 7:39am

The idea that the cholera outbreak was on a scale like the bubonic plague is indeed a myth, but it is unquestionable that Chicago sending its sewage directly into the source of its drinking water led to smaller outbreaks of it. That and the filth that the stockyards and other industries were depositing into the river were of absolutely why they reversed it.

A few good books:

edit: updated version! https://www.amazon.com/Chicago-River-Natural-Unnatural-History/dp/0...

edit: I didn't realize Richard Lanyon had a new book out, this looks great/just ordered a used copy:

https://www.amazon.com/Building-Canal-Chicago-Richard-Lanyon-ebook/...

Winner of the 2013 Abel Wolman Award for Best New Book in Public Works History. To reverse the flow of a river wouldn't be possible today, but to Chicago near the end of the nineteenth century it became a matter of survival. On the shores of Lake Michigan, connected to the Great Lakes system, with the Chicago River and easy waterway access to the expanding American West, Chicago had much that was ideal in the way of water for a burgeoning metropolis in the 1800s. It also had a flat topography and poor drainage. As the city swelled, railroads replaced water transport, the population surged, and the lake served both as water supply and sewage repository. The Chicago River became overwhelmed with the commerce of a port city and its residents' sewage. It stank at times. Deadly, waterborne diseases were spreading. Flooding from the interior tore through the city to get to the lake. What to do? Without sewage treatment, it was decided to breach a subcontinental divide, send the sewage away, and save the lake. The idea received legislative approval with the promise of a navigable canal. In the largest municipal earth-moving project ever at that point--an engineering marvel and a monumental public works success--the flow of the Chicago River was turned away from Lake Michigan in 1900. Chicago's own shoulder-to-the-wheel determination made it work. Author Richard Lanyon is the former executive director of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago. Heavily illustrated with historic photos.

And this one is about London, but it's one of the best books I've ever read and is topical: https://www.amazon.com/Ghost-Map-Londons-Terrifying-Epidemic/dp/159...

Permalink Reply by Yasmeen on April 4, 2019 at 7:16am

Considering how new all of this is, this is really sad. I hope they fix it (well) soon.

Permalink Reply by ad on April 4, 2019 at 7:43am

Assuming these are the same spots that have been at issue in the past, this looks like it will be a recurring problem until the Army Corps of Engineers figures out a workable breakwall solution (and how to pay for it).  

https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/kamin/ct-met-norther...

Permalink Reply by curt(is) locke on April 4, 2019 at 7:46am

When I was out there last spring, much of Northerly Island was closed off with barriers.

Permalink Reply by JeffB on April 4, 2019 at 8:27am

Based on the pictures and dates of those articles, I guess its been a lot longer than I remembered since I rode the full trail.

Permalink Reply by JeffB on April 4, 2019 at 8:22am

Yeah, that eastern part of the trail has had issues all along, but last year it was still passable and you could easily ride around the barriers.

Now you can't ride it, unless you have serious off-road skills, and you have to lift your bike over the southern barrier.

Before this, it was mainly issues with gravel and stones pushed over the trail by high waves and the underlying ground being eroded slowly.  I guess this winter sped that process up and the pavement buckled.

I'm pessimistic that we'll see a lasting solution. It would be a major project just to fix the trail. But then add on the necessity of a breakwater, and it will be too costly.

I think we'll have half a trail on Northerly Island for the foreseeable future.

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