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Raising of Chicago

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Re: Raising of Chicago

#31

Post by NaOH »

ashryan wrote: post #15
an_aparallel wrote: post #12

Ah man - this is one of the cooler things i've ever heard of. I first heard of it in PBS doco "Chicago: City of the Century". That documentary - is one of the finest chronicles of modern society i've ever seen. The insights into psychology, civil engineering, and history are second to none. Most profound to me were the "design" of suburbs with the trappings we dont think very much of these days - libraries, pools, sh…

I just came across American Experience for the first time over the last week. What I've seen so far is incredible. This is their YouTube profile: https://www.youtube.com/@AmericanExperiencePBS/featured Unfortunately, the doc you mention isn't on there. They do have the transcript on their site tho: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/chicago/

Those three American Experience episodes on Chicago can be found here (#s 157–159): https://archive.org/details/american-experience_20220511

Re: Raising of Chicago

#32

Post by dredmorbius »

mxuribe wrote: post #10

The whole concept is bonkers! By this i mean that i can not imagine many officials would even have the will to even try something so big and audacious nowadays. Also, my favorite note in the wikipedia entry (besides the whole article being awesome!), is this one: "Many of the city's old wooden buildings were considered not worth raising, so instead the owners of these wooden buildings had them either demolished or el…

In 1930, the e Indiana Bell Telephone Company rotated an 11,000 ton functioning telephone exchange it had acquired merging with Central Union Telephone Company, whilst work continued inside, and with water, sewerage, gas, and electricity service continuing uninterrupted, 90 degrees.

The work was performed by the architectural firm of Vonnegut, Bohn & Mueller, co-founded by Bernard Vonnegut, father of the noted author Kurt.

https://www.archdaily.com/973183/the-building-that-moved-how...>

Re: Raising of Chicago

#33

Post by dredmorbius »

bilbo0s wrote: post #3

I feel like only in places like Chicago could this have worked. It's like the water system in Chicago, just massive. And everyone just shrugs and says, "Dig 100 miles of deep tunnel and massive reservoirs? Yep. Let's get 'er done." A lot of places I've lived, things like that wouldn't fly. I was equally amazed at Phoenix with their, what I can only call a "strategic water reserve". A lot of thought and money goes int…

Would the Phoenix, AZ, water plan be the "Water Resource Plan", or something else?

https://www.phoenix.gov/waterservices/resourcesconservation/...>

Re: Raising of Chicago

#34

Post by dredmorbius »

bilbo0s wrote: post #14
grogenaut wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They massively re-landscaped most of downtown seattle, in one phase by using hoses to blast hills down and extend the waterfront. In another phase they built the streets up like 12' or more. I think stuff like this happened in many places. Really it still does. I'll trigger many bostonians by invoking the dig. Seattle has bored some massive tunnels recently and re-scaped its waterfront

I think there is a misunderstanding of the engineering challenges in some of these projects. The Big Dig was less than 10 miles, never deeper than roughly 100 ft. TARP is over 100 miles always deeper than 100 ft. And because of intended use, it all has to be dug through solid limestone bedrock. The engineering challenges are non trivial in both, but one is on a massive scale that the other is just not. Speaking to th…

I'm presuming TARP is the Chicago Tunnel and Reservoir Plan?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunnel_and_Reservoir_Plan>

That's been in process for 30 years, anticipated completion in 2029.

Re: Raising of Chicago

#35

Post by phil21 »

nkrisc wrote: post #18
joezydeco wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My family is originally from the Pilsen neighborhood, you can see examples all over the place of houses lower than the street. Example: https://maps.app.goo.gl/F39JxUPZoobGMgiq9

I know between Division and North there’s some remaining blocks like that too: https://maps.app.goo.gl/NHriGdh1cvL193487 Though so many are gone now and replaced with new construction.

New construction will generally follow the old footprint as well.

My house was built in 1994 and the lower level is roughly 4ft or so below street/sidewalk/alley grade.

We call ours the basement, but in a 3 flat building in the same footprint it would typically be called a garden apartment as it opens to the same level as my backyard and front 'patio' area.

My garage is built to street grade, so my backyard is sunken about 4ft from the street to the alley. This holds true for all my neighbors on the block, thus water retention isn't quite as horrific as it might sound during heavy rains. Lots of sump pumps on the block that are 100% required during storms, but strangely mine had none installed and it's been fine.

Utilities (sewer) run about 1 foot or so under my foundation to the street, where they are about 5-6ft deep under the street if they need to do work.

New construction (tear downs) will typically build below street grade as well since you get an extra floor (4 stories vs. 3) for your new home while remaining under the zoning height restrictions for the neighborhood.

Re: Raising of Chicago

#36

Post by dredmorbius »

evbogue wrote: post #30

This past summer I worked a job off lower lower Wacker Drive, which is a trip to navigate but once you get the hang of the area the whole region is fascinating. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wacker_Drive

(In)famously:

https://yewtu.be/watch?v=NB5bMyir4-g>

(The Blues Brothers, 1980)

Re: Raising of Chicago

#37

Post by mxuribe »

dredmorbius wrote: post #32
mxuribe wrote: post #10

The whole concept is bonkers! By this i mean that i can not imagine many officials would even have the will to even try something so big and audacious nowadays. Also, my favorite note in the wikipedia entry (besides the whole article being awesome!), is this one: "Many of the city's old wooden buildings were considered not worth raising, so instead the owners of these wooden buildings had them either demolished or el…

In 1930, the e Indiana Bell Telephone Company rotated an 11,000 ton functioning telephone exchange it had acquired merging with Central Union Telephone Company, whilst work continued inside, and with water, sewerage, gas, and electricity service continuing uninterrupted, 90 degrees. The work was performed by the architectural firm of Vonnegut, Bohn & Mueller, co-founded by Bernard Vonnegut, father of the noted author…

That's mindbogglingly insane!

Re: Raising of Chicago

#38

Post by joezydeco »

nkrisc wrote: post #18
joezydeco wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My family is originally from the Pilsen neighborhood, you can see examples all over the place of houses lower than the street. Example: https://maps.app.goo.gl/F39JxUPZoobGMgiq9

I know between Division and North there’s some remaining blocks like that too: https://maps.app.goo.gl/NHriGdh1cvL193487 Though so many are gone now and replaced with new construction.

I had a relative that lived in this house in Ukranian Village. It's kind of cute how it resisted any change for 100+ years.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/jUL4G1DJXfqEggoz8

Re: Raising of Chicago

#39

Post by stevekemp »

mxuribe wrote: post #10

The whole concept is bonkers! By this i mean that i can not imagine many officials would even have the will to even try something so big and audacious nowadays. Also, my favorite note in the wikipedia entry (besides the whole article being awesome!), is this one: "Many of the city's old wooden buildings were considered not worth raising, so instead the owners of these wooden buildings had them either demolished or el…

There are some crazy things, but in terms of projects I've always thought that the time Sweden changed which side of the road traffic drove on has got to be up there:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dagen_H

Re: Raising of Chicago

#40

Post by mxuribe »

stevekemp wrote: post #39
mxuribe wrote: post #10

The whole concept is bonkers! By this i mean that i can not imagine many officials would even have the will to even try something so big and audacious nowadays. Also, my favorite note in the wikipedia entry (besides the whole article being awesome!), is this one: "Many of the city's old wooden buildings were considered not worth raising, so instead the owners of these wooden buildings had them either demolished or el…

There are some crazy things, but in terms of projects I've always thought that the time Sweden changed which side of the road traffic drove on has got to be up there: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dagen_H

At a glance, changing which side of the road to drive on seems not so big and complex...maybe its jarring, but it didn't sound so big, complex, and audacious...But then upon further thought, there are tons of big and not-so-big considerations - especially the many, many little things that might not be obvious until things were actually implemented - that would need to be addressed...so, yeah, agreed, that change in Sweden was a big doozy of a societal change! Thanks for sharing! :-)
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