November 30, 2019 – With storms over Lake Michigan expected to produce high waves in coming months, the City of Chicago has started a new project aimed at stabilizing and protecting the lakefront.

Chicago Department of Transportation and Chicago Park District are working with the United States Army Corps of Engineers on a joint project to protect three beaches on the Far North Side – Howard Beach, Juneway Beach, and Rogers Beach. Work is also being done south of the Loop at 49th Street and 67th Street.

According to the city, two recent storms created waves as high as 12 feet, causing erosion to an already-damaged infrastructure.

“Models used by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers predict lake levels will remain high through winter 2019 and spring 2020 due to increased levels of precipitation in the Lake Michigan-Huron basin, increasing the likelihood for additional shoreline and infrastructure damage,” reported CDOT on November 18.

The beaches will be armored with 10,000 cubic yards of riprap, a rocky material used in breakwaters. CDOT says the work will be done by the end of December.

The Great Lakes are at a high point in what is believed to be a 30-year cycle of rising and falling lake levels. In October, 48th Ward Alderman Harry Osterman said the cost to repair Chicago’s lakefront will be over $1 billion.