The complicated engineering project to remedy Chicago`s subterranean flood took another step forward Friday morning, as contractors began pouring concrete into a shaft east of the leak in the breached tunnel under the Chicago River.
Shortly after 11 a.m., crews began funneling concrete into a shaft east of the Kinzie Street bridge of the Chicago River.
The concrete will provide one barrier to isolate the leak in the tunnel, which has crippled Chicago`s Loop for five days and sent city officials and federal engineers scrambling for a solution.
Shafts west of the leak also will be filled with concrete once work on the east is done. That work could begin Friday afternoon.
The final step in the process is to pump 250 million gallons of river water from the underground tunnel system once used for freight and now a conduit for cables.
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It could take about two weeks to pump out the tunnel-and the basements that have been flooded as a result. City officials fear that draining the water quickly could cause the tunnel to cave in.
Mayor Richard Daley visited the Kinzie bridge site for about two hours on Friday morning, as City Hall remained closed because of the flooding.
At an early-afternoon news conference, he said, ”Though we`ve made steady progress, we still have a long way to go.”
He said all city agencies would be working through the weekend on the problem.
”We are gradually coming to terms with this massive problem,” Daley said.
Elsewhere in the Loop, business continued to pick up.
Commonwealth Edison was restoring full power to the Chicago Board of Trade, 141 W. Jackson, about 1 p.m. Friday. The CBOT was closed for Good Friday, however. The main trading floor in the annex and four floors in the tower got power back on Wednesday.
Power was restored at 6:39 a.m. Friday to seven buildings blacked out Thursday night to disconnect them from a submerged transformer, Commonwealth Edison said Friday. The Marshall Field`s building on State Street had its power restored, but because of two flooded sub-basements, it remaind closed.
For commuters, a lighter afternoon rush hour was expected, as many downtown employees left early for the Easter weekend.