CTA back on track February 9, 2000 BY BRENDA WARNER ROTZOLL AND ROBERT C. HERGUTH STAFF REPORTERS

All CTA Loop L lines resumed full service at 2 p.m. Tuesday after testing with heavy snowplow trains showed no damage to supports for the Wells Street tracks from Monday's break in a 36-inch water main. But the Quincy L station will be closed until Monday while work on the street continues. "This is a work area. We want to make sure we're not endangering our customers or impeding workers," CTA President Frank Kruesi said.

The century-old main was repaired by noon, and water started flowing through it normally a couple hours later, Water Commissioner Richard Rice said.

Officials predicted it would be Monday morning before street traffic resumes on Wells near Quincy, where flooding created a sinkhole 6 feet deep and 20 feet wide. The Board of Electricity has to rebuild an electric vault before street repairs start Thursday or Friday, said Rich Kinczyk, the city's deputy Department of Transportation commissioner.

Rice said preliminary tests gave no indication why a 45-inch-long, V-shaped chunk of the cast iron pipe popped out near a joint. He said there was no external corrosion. Rice said possibilities include stress from the winter's freeze-thaw cycle, or from other utilities working in the area.

Water Department crews flushed out their system after installing a new water main. They slowly filled it to drive out trapped air, which they vented through a nearby fire hydrant. The water was tested to ensure water quality was good enough for the office buildings and restaurants it will serve, said city spokesman Matt Smith.

The hole created by the break was large enough to swallow up a car being towed Monday morning by the city.

Starting shortly after 10 a.m., CTA crews ran two yellow, 97-ton diesel-powered snowplow locomotives over the outer- and inner-Loop elevated tracks to test the structural integrity of the foundation. A regular railcar weighs 24 tons, CTA spokeswoman Noelle Gaffney said.

Tuesday's morning commute was hectic at times, but most CTA passengers seemed braced for the delays. The CTA positioned customer service agents on platforms and in stations to direct confused travelers. Announcements were made repeatedly over the public address system and with hand-held bullhorns. Signs were taped to shelters explaining that some of the trains were being rerouted. Some station stairwells were closed off with yellow tape.

"I think they did a pretty good job," said Kent Haag, 45, a public historian who lives in Lake View and takes the Brown Line to work at the Thompson Center. He left for work at 9 a.m. Tuesday, later than usual because he expected problems during the earlier rush. "I had a seat, go figure," he said.

Link:

http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/flood09.html

-- Carl Jenkins (Somewherepress@aol.com), February 09, 2000

Answers

I appreciate the followup and denouement [!] of these stories Carl. If a disaster post is worth putting up, it's worth following up.

>"<

-- Squirrel Hunter (nuts@upina.cellrelaytower), February 09, 2000.

Thanks, I try to do followup on every story. Unfortunately, the news sources normally don't do much followup on "yesterdays news". I also make a point of posting stories that demonstrate the lack of any y2k connection to the event in question.

-- Carl Jenkins (Somewherepress@aol.com), February 09, 2000.