During the 19th century, Chicago’s sewage got dumped into the Chicago River and flowed into Lake Michigan. Because the city’s drinking water was, and still is, drawn from the lake via two mile-long tunnels, officials feared that the sewage would endanger the water supply.
The deployment of telecom infrastructure involves tackling unique challenges, including technological advancements, geographical diversity, regulatory complexities and significant financial investments.
Although work continues on the $156-million Rosecrans/Marquardt Grade Separation project, the new Rosecrans Avenue Bridge opened to the public in January, bringing much needed safety enhancements to one of the most dangerous rail crossings in California.
Phil Washington grew up on the South Side of Chicago in public housing with a single mom caring for a family of six. “The people building infrastructure in my community did not look like me,” he says. “I wondered, ‘Why can’t I get a job helping to build my own community?’”
Little did the reserved engineer know as he watched TV images of residents waiting in long lines for bottled water that he would be the one to oversee the massive, multibillion-dollar effort to finally bring the city’s aging and long-neglected water systems into the 21st century.