Erosion Barrier Boulders To Go Up In Rogers Park
CHICAGO (CBS) - A new project will serve as an emergency fix for a dramatic problem in Rogers Park.
Record lake levels have been sending waves crashing into homes along the lake.
CBS 2's Marissa Parra reports on a new project to protect the lakefront.
It's unclear who is paying for the project that now requires a chain link fence around part of a park. It's also unclear what the project will cost.
What is known is that it's going to require tons of boulders and the project starts Monday.
People walking by a covered fence seemed confused by the new scenery at Juneway Terrace.
But artist Davis McCarty is looking for something specific.
"I spent a year of my life building this sculpture and a lot of my savings. This was my gift to the city," he said.
McCarty made a sculpture to be seen along the lakefront, but right now, you can only see it through the chain link fence.
The good news is the fences are temporary. Alderman Maria Hadden's office said on Monday that the park will be a construction site.
At some point over the next few weeks, tons of boulders will be placed where months of repeated storms have caused sunken sidewalks and sinkholes, yards away from McCarty's structure.
https://twitter.com/MarParNews
"It's only fitting that as things crumbled around it, it's still standing strong," McCarty said.
The alderman's office said the plan is to put the stone retaining walls along the shoreline at Juneway to stop the erosion before it gets worse. The hope is that this will buy three to five years while everyone tries to find the long-term answers.
And if all goes according to plan, those same walls and fences could end up saving the park and McCarty's pride and joy.
"It's not often that you can say we're making progress by building walls. But in this case, I hope it's true," McCarty added.
The alderman's office said that once Juneway is finished, they'll then move on to Howard Park, then Rogers Park to do the same. They're going in order of severity.
