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Lakefront Path Pavement Ravaged By Winter Waves

By Alex Nitkin | April 29, 2016 2:37pm | Updated on May 3, 2016 10:27am
 Officials say heavy winds and crushing waves are to blame for the damage.
Officials say heavy winds and crushing waves are to blame for the damage.
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DNAinfo/Alex Nitkin

GOLD COAST — Coming from Yorkshire, England, Lynn Warelow wasn't fazed by the wind blasting off the water as she pushed her husband's wheelchair along the lakefront path Friday.

But the table-sized slabs jutting out from the ground were another story.

"It's really quite bad, isn't it?" Warelow said, as she navigated the chair across the chasms and 6-inch cliffs scarring the path. "It's a bit worrying — we were actually beginning to wonder if we'd gone the wrong way."

For about a 50-foot stretch just south of the 90-degree Oak Street Curve, entire layers of pavement lay on top of one another, ripped from the bedrock.

"You'd never see something like this" in England, Lynn Warelow's husband, Ian Warelow, chimed in, "unless there were a really terrible storm, or something like that."

In this case, it wasn't a single storm, but a long and punishing winter, park officials say, that mangled the concrete path. That particular section juts out into the lake, unprotected by rocks or a beachfront, making it extra vulnerable to crushing waves during storms like the one that hit on Monday.

"You'll see a lot of wave and wind action there — it's usually the first area we have to shut down when it gets too windy," said Jessica Faulkner, a spokeswoman for the Chicago Park District.

Faulkner added that "crews have been out to assess the damage," and repairs should be underway "within the next two weeks or so."

But that may not be soon enough, some said, to prevent harm from befalling joggers or bikers taken by surprise after rounding the curve, especially as warmer weather draws more visitors to the path.

"I'd really like to see that flattened out," said Kathleen Marceau, an Edgewater resident who walked along the path with her husband Thursday. "It's one thing to be walking and seeing that, but if you're on a bike, it's going to be a serious shock."

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