Lake Shore Drive, a part of U.S. Highway 41 that runs parallel with and along the shoreline of Lake Michigan in Chicago, was closed to northbound traffic from the morning of Feb. 11 to the afternoon of Feb. 12 due to cracks in structural steel support girders on the elevated roadway leading up to the Outer Drive Bridge that crosses the Chicago River near the mouth of Lake Michigan. The popular thoroughfare handles 120,000 vehicles a day, half of which use the northbound lanes.
Crews from general contractor F.H. Paschen, steel erector Metropolitan Steel as well as Chicago Transit Authority ironworkers completed two 12-hour shifts to install four steel structural support towers underneath a portion of the drive where cracks were observed in steel girders that support the road as it elevates and approaches the Outer Drive Bridge — a 264-ft-long, double-deck, double-leaf bascule bridge over the Chicago River where it meets the mouth of Lake Michigan. Chicago Dept. of Transportation Director of Public Affairs Michael Claffey said the cracks were detected by a CDOT crew making traffic signal repairs on the lower portion of Lake Shore Drive around 10 a.m. Feb. 11. Shortly thereafter, city officials shut down the road for repairs.