de-icing/salting oak street curve

Does anyone know whom to call to attempt to get the path salted at the Oak Street Curve?

It's annoying that I ride the entire north branch of the path and spend a disproportionately long amount of time traversing 150 yards of ice at the curve.

Today was my first time back to work and this is my first year taking that route daily so I'm not familiar with how often that section is iced over. It seems to me it's a lawsuit waiting to happen as it is ice from the lake all the way to the inner wall at the roadway. With the sloping grade and the smoothness of the ice, I don't think it's inconceivable that someone could slip and fall and slide all the way into the lake.

I understand that most "sane" people wouldn't ride in this weather so my complaint only has so much room to run/ride, but I have no problem with the cold, just the ice. As Rahm and Gabe are publicly promoting bicycling as transportation in Chicago, shouldn't the crown jewel of a transportation thoroughfare be made navigable, if even with typical half-assery?

I would like to see concrete, highway construction barriers put in temporarily along that curve at the line separating the concrete near the lake from the newly repaved asphalt. Even if that didn't prevent all the water from splashing up and forming the ice on the path, it would provide a physical barrier to hit before falling into the lake if one were to slip and fall.

In the city that works, with a Streets and Sanitation department with a thirst for overtime, am I unrealistic in thinking that this should be and easy and obvious fix?

Tags: ice, lakefront, oak, path, street

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Permalink Reply by Cameron 7.5 mi on January 3, 2012 at 12:28pm

The curve icing over has been a problem every winter. Eventually the park district will respond to the lawsuit waiting to happen by closing the path at that point. Most year round commuters take some sort of street detour. Here is a thread here discussing routes.

As for deicing the curve, given the amount of ice that forms there it would take an unrealistic of salt. Without a redesign of the lake wall there isn't much that can be done. The path portion of the structure there acts as a stepped sea wall to dissipate breaking waves and prevent them from overtopping the higher lake wall protecting LSD. I'm not sure is this was a deliberate design decision, but it's hard to believe that building an effective stepped seawall was an accident. Solving this problem would be a major engineering and construction undertaking.

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Permalink Reply by kiltedcelt on January 3, 2012 at 1:46pm

Check out the link to the other thread that Cameron mentions. I started that thread because I face that same issue. At some point, apparently the city will just close (or attempt) to close access to that section of the path. Of course during the recent storms that were causing huge waves along there I was told by at least one police officer that the entire lake front path was closed, not just that section along Oak Street. I call B.S. because I never saw a single barricade on that particular day, anywhere on my 11.5 mile ride of the path. Of course I was smart enough to detour around Oak Street, but still. They can put up barricades and people will still go around them. Someone will probably end up in the lake and possibly die. The city may or may not get sued because the victim will have disobeyed the barriers. The only thing that will change that situation would be to completely redesign that section of path or put in much higher break walls as they're doing down at the new marina construction at 31st street. I can assure you, neither one is going to happen. Obviously this path with all its inherent dangers has been in existence for years during which there is dangerous icing and severe waves every year. The city hasn't seen fit to address it yet so I seriously doubt they ever will. You'll have to do just like me and find an alternate route and simply resign yourself to using that until sometime in April or May when the path can reasonably be expected to become safe to travel again.

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Permalink Reply by Dirke on January 3, 2012 at 2:01pm

Thanks for helpful replies. What I was aiming for was finding a link to someone with a sympathetic ear and a trigger finger in the depths of city government. I don't frequent this site/blog much but remember reading at some point in the fall about someone who bitched about the 3" lips at the edges of the bridge on the path, south of the Navy Pier bridge over the river, and lo and behold, it got fixed within a day, after having been a potentially dangerous nuisance that destroyed countless rims for at least two years.

That was just a quality-of-life detail and it got fixed quickly when someone made someone (with the power to do something about it) aware of it.

This situation, as discussed, has the potential to end someone's life in a horrible way, and is similarly preventable with a small investment in time and some temporary materials. If someone on this board could find that thread or forward the relevant contact information, I'll take it from there. Thanks again for helpful suggestions and not just recommending avoidance.

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Permalink Reply by Mark on January 3, 2012 at 2:04pm

The Chicago Park District has not plowed or salted this stretch of the LFT for several years, ever since they almost lost a vehicle into the lake in trying to do so. A long-term solution is planned to build a cantilevered trail jutting out from LSD which would be done as part of a complete rehab of LSD which would also include semi-straightening out the curve at Oak Street.

We've been lucky this winter to make it to New Year's without any real snow or ice there. Last winter, large sections of the trail were decimated by an ice storm in early December, taking out large chunks of asphalt that didn't get repaired until Memorial Day. I took the inner drive from Oak to Chicago this morning, but I also have alternate routes from North Avenue and Fullerton.

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Permalink Reply by kiltedcelt on January 3, 2012 at 2:23pm

Dirke - I like your idea of the concrete barricades to prevent someone from sliding into the lake, but frankly if you've seen the power of the wave action on that curve... well I'd be surprised if concrete barricades would actually stay put. I think they'd either be knocked flat or would be pushed out of position or pulled back into the lake. Fixing the concrete lips on the bridge south of Navy Pier was something a few workers could do in an afternoon. Making the Oak Street curve safer is something that even in a temporary solution would be a major construction undertaking. It's more cost effective for the city to just try to close or limit access to the that stretch of path. It sucks, but we'll just have to live with it until the project that Mark mentions gets underway, and I wouldn't expect that anytime soon.

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Permalink Reply by Cameron 7.5 mi on January 3, 2012 at 2:37pm

I believe that this is the thread you were talking about. I salute you if you are able to get anything done about ice on the Oak Street Curve, but be warned that fixing the ice problem will be much harder than fixing a bit of sunken pavement. The problem is with the design of the lake wall and isn't something that you can just tell a maintenance crew to go fix. Also there are likely some jurisdictional issues between the Parks Department who maintain the path, and the Army Corps of Engineers who maintain the lake wall.

Dirke said:

Thanks for helpful replies. What I was aiming for was finding a link to someone with a sympathetic ear and a trigger finger in the depths of city government. I don't frequent this site/blog much but remember reading at some point in the fall about someone who bitched about the 3" lips at the edges of the bridge on the path, south of the Navy Pier bridge over the river, and lo and behold, it got fixed within a day, after having been a potentially dangerous nuisance that destroyed countless rims for at least two years.

That was just a quality-of-life detail and it got fixed quickly when someone made someone (with the power to do something about it) aware of it.

This situation, as discussed, has the potential to end someone's life in a horrible way, and is similarly preventable with a small investment in time and some temporary materials. If someone on this board could find that thread or forward the relevant contact information, I'll take it from there. Thanks again for helpful suggestions and not just recommending avoidance.

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Permalink Reply by Dirke on January 3, 2012 at 3:01pm

Cameron,

That indeed was the discussion on Chainlink, thanks for finding. But alas, the heroine for that one was not in the thread. I don't remember where I read about that one but a specific female of the region found a voice and I think was solely responsible for the fix. I used to be "more-unemployed" and read some blog somewhere where the young lady made some calls, sent some pictures and emails, and it was fixed within 48 hours. It may have been a link from a link from a Tribune article.

I understand the difference in situations between that and this but since that situation is the only one of which I'm aware that a citizen/user made a complaint and had it addressed, I thought it would be worthwhile to bark up the same tree. Maybe that successful, concerned citizen will come across this thread sometime this winter and provide the needed enlightenment. That's my hope anyway. In the meantime, I'll keep an eye on the area and avoid if icy. I have studded tires that would make it through that section while laughing at it but they're too heavy to install when that little section is the only one I can't avoid at all if taking the LF path.

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Permalink Reply by kiltedcelt on January 3, 2012 at 3:42pm

I've been planning on studded tires myself, but I think that section is too dangerous to ride, even with studded tires, if it's heavily iced. I'll stick to my detour. That, and I can't start out on that section and turn around if I find it impassable - that's just too much extra time added to my morning commute. I think I'm just going to switch to my alternate route and stick with that for the next two to three months.

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Permalink Reply by Poptart on January 6, 2012 at 11:30am

Man I saw a guy bust it hard at the curve this morning and take a "sliding into home" type adventure out on the ice sheet, so glad he didn't have the momentum to make it all the way out to the water. First time back down there in like two weeks. I think I will be sticking to my street route. Don't let the temp fool ya, its still nasty at the corner.

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Permalink Reply by Shelley Scott on January 6, 2012 at 11:45am

I too took the path for the first time in a few weeks (was getting tired of taking the city streets), and you still have to take the dirt path at Fullerton, and there is still a mini-glacier at Oak Street. It is clear of ice close to the water, so as long as you walk your bike a bit it's pretty safe. I was in awe of a couple cyclists I saw who rode right over the ice with no problem--ice and gravity are a brutal mix for me. :o)

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Permalink Reply by Liz on January 6, 2012 at 11:53am

I really don't think you understand the engineering significance of this project.

While it seems like a small segment of sidewalk, it is not possible to simply salt this area to remove ice. There is simply too much water that is continuously washed up onto the path here. It is a complicated project and even when a solution is designed, it would take several months to construct (during the summer) vs closing this segment during the winter when its use is limited. It would cost the city/army corp a lot of money.

I would rather the city spend its resources creating a viable alternate route with protected lanes on inner lake shore drive and a proper connection back to the path where inner lake shore drive ends. This would cost the city significantly less and allow a safe path around the area.

Dirke said:

Cameron,

That indeed was the discussion on Chainlink, thanks for finding. But alas, the heroine for that one was not in the thread. I don't remember where I read about that one but a specific female of the region found a voice and I think was solely responsible for the fix. I used to be "more-unemployed" and read some blog somewhere where the young lady made some calls, sent some pictures and emails, and it was fixed within 48 hours. It may have been a link from a link from a Tribune article.

I understand the difference in situations between that and this but since that situation is the only one of which I'm aware that a citizen/user made a complaint and had it addressed, I thought it would be worthwhile to bark up the same tree. Maybe that successful, concerned citizen will come across this thread sometime this winter and provide the needed enlightenment. That's my hope anyway. In the meantime, I'll keep an eye on the area and avoid if icy. I have studded tires that would make it through that section while laughing at it but they're too heavy to install when that little section is the only one I can't avoid at all if taking the LF path.