Construction will begin this spring on a $55 million underground pipeline aimed at alleviating “storm of the century” flooding that has plagued Chicago’s Albany Park neighborhood twice in recent years.
As part of the project, MWH Global was responsible for the design of an 18-foot finished diameter tunnel, which will be 5,700 feet long, going through bedrock approximately 110 feet below grade. Flooding in the area occurs when excessive rains cause the flow in the Chicago River to overtop its banks.
In the event of heavy rains, the pipeline would move excess water from the north branch of the Chicago River into the North Shore Channel, a drainage canal that runs from the Chicago River north to Wilmette in Lake Michigan.
Two years ago, a deluge of rain deposited more than five-and-a-half inches of water at O’Hare Airport, flooding at least 1,200 Chicago basements and thousands of suburban homes.
Last week, the Mayor of Chicago, Rahm Emanuel, commented during a media briefing, “We need to make sure the residents of Albany Park every three or four years do not have to clear out their basements because everything is destroyed in a flood. To have their entire basement and all their valuables ruined and, for days when electricity and gas is cut off, everything in the refrigerator is lost. It has a dramatic impact on family budgets. Finally, we have the resources to move forward and handle whatever Mother Nature throws at us. The residents of Albany Park will be secure.”
As part of the Mayor’s media briefing, posters depicting the new tunnel were displayed. To view the posters, click here.
“We have to find a solution. We got our engineers together and came up with a significant engineering feat that is actually quite elegant and simple in design,” said Transportation Commissioner Rebekah Scheinfeld. “We’ll be building a storm water diversion tunnel that will be over a mile in length. We’re gonna go down 150 feet below the surface, tunnel through bedrock, then up on the south side of Foster over by the North Shore Channel where overflow water will then be bypassing the north branch of the Chicago River.”
