City Closes Crumbling Tunnel Under DuSable Lake Shore Drive At Buena Avenue; Neighbors Say They Hope It Gets Fixed
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A crumbling pedestrian tunnel under DuSable Lake Shore Drive at the edge of Uptown is now closed.
This comes after neighbors alerted CBS 2 to the worsening conditions in the underpass at Buena Avenue late last month.
CBS 2's Meredith Barack on Tuesday looked into whether the closure means repairs are in the near future, or if it means something else.
"It's a thoroughfare, and this is Chicago. This is not a third-world country," said Jacqueline Roig. "So we need to keep our city looking beautiful and being functional."
Roig was one of the first people to raise the alarm about the tunnel.
"It looked very, very decrepit and scary," she said. "It was really unsafe."
Footage from Jan. 31 showed where big chunks of concrete had crumbled from the ceiling of the tunnel, leaving behind rusty beams. Orange barrels were set up as a precaution.
But on Tuesday morning, the tunnel – which connects people to the lake, trails, and a peace garden, was boarded up by the Chicago Department of Transportation.
"Which is really inconvenient," Roig said, "but hopefully we'll be safe."
Those who have been keeping a close eye on the deteriorating conditions of the tunnel say both sides are now boarded up - leaving them to wonder what will happen next.
"They need to fix it and not just close it," Roig said. "People do access it to go biking and running and walking, so it is pretty busy - just maybe not as much today."
The Chicago Department of Transportation said it closed the tunnel for public safety purposes, and is looking into what repairs are necessary. There was no word late Tuesday on when the tunnel would be reopened.
