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Stolen Manhole Covers 'Miraculously' Replaced After Yearlong Absence

By Darryl Holliday | June 17, 2015 8:44am

LOGAN SQUARE — Several treacherous holes along one of Logan Square’s boulevards have been covered, making that stretch of Kedzie Avenue significantly safer, according to one resident.

After a year of calling 311, longtime Palmer Square resident Steve Hier said media attention helped  fixed a dangerous situation.

“These 150-200 pound things that go over the holes in the ground miraculously fell from the sky, so they must have been pushed from an airplane and just happened to land in the right place,” joked Hier, who said thankful that a potentially dangerous situation was averted on his block.


[DNAinfo/Darryl Holliday]

Word of four missing manhole covers along Kedzie Avenue spread after Hier, an engineer by trade, pointed out the 4-foot pits between Palmer Square and the Illinois Centennial Monument June 1.

The sewer-sized manhole covers house electrical units that empty out into a tangle of wires underground. But they began disappearing last summer — most likely due to theft by scrapper — creating a dangerous situation for pedestrians.

The covers were replaced by a city crew mid-afternoon June 2.

[DNAinfo/Darryl Holliday]

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