The Chainlink

Like the title says, the metal grates are much worse than normal. I went down on Dearborn and the bridge was so slick I could barely stand up and walk off.

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and remember the trails, like bridges, can have ice even when everything else is thawing.  

A family member had to have a hip replacement due to a fall on a trail friday morning  :((

Sorry about your fall. You OK?

I'm glad your fall wasn't worse.

It's slick on the south side, too.  I hope that nobody has to go out in this slip-and-slide tonight.  

To anyone who must go out, I wishing you safe travels.

Glad you're OK, Cameron. My honey had the same thing happen to her this afternoon on the Webster bridge. Fortunately there was no traffic around when she fell, and she's bruised but OK. The Cortland bridge is OK.

With it getting so much colder and the little bits of whatever precipitation is going around, looks like we will need to be extra careful in the morning, too.

Agreed. Generally I find warnings about the dreaded  "BLACK ICE" to be silly, but I would definitely pay attention to darker pavement and stay light on the handlebars until we're buried in salt.

I almost took a nasty spill with my fully loaded bicycle on the Dearborn bridge. It is one big sheet of icy metal, I had to carefully walk across it to the end near Wacker.

Thanks, Juan.  I think I will just walk across from the beginning this morning. ;-)  Let's hope that the bright sunshine melts it today.

Yes - thanks for the warnings everyone! The grates on Loomis were in the same condition this AM. I walked over them. I'm not sure I would have looked as carefully if I hadn't read these reports on the Chainlink!

The much hoped for plates however, are not necessarily going to solve the problem during weather like we are having now. The plates on the 18th St bridge in both directions are more or less covered with solid sheets of ice this morning.

This is a shot of the north side, which was in the sun. The south side was even worse:

I'm not at all opposed to plates. They usually make for a much nicer riding experience, but bridges are gonna be vulnerable to icing up no matter what the surface - and the plates, at least as they are configured on 18th, being non-permeable(?) , seem to hold a layer of water pretty well.

FWIW--So far this year the plates on Kinzie have been very well salted and there has not been an ice problem.

Agreed - I think the Kinzie plates are already being salted better than they were all last winter.  Actually, the entire lane has been better this year.  Salt is being distributed evenly instead of piles every 20-30 feet.

Lisa Curcio 4.0 mi said:

FWIW--So far this year the plates on Kinzie have been very well salted and there has not been an ice problem.

If you do the North Shore Channel Trail south of Devon, be extra careful on all of the underpasses: like bridges, they tend to be icy even when the trail on either side is clear.  The spot under Foster is a death-trap: there's a drain that is open onto the path, and it's a sheet of ice.

And fun with physics: why do bridges ice over when other roadways are clear?  Because they're exposed to the air above and below, and so they are colder than regular road surfaces, where only the top is open to the air. 

Ride Safely!

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