Ear on Chicago; Unidentified

The sound you're hearing in the background is that of heavy machinery constructing a toll highway for the state of Illinois. And this is Hugh Hill speaking from right in the center of one of those highways. We're standing looking west in a little cutoff of the Tri -State toll road which is going to run north and south outside the city of Chicago. South, the county met Tri -State interchange. We'll hook up with this Illinois Tri -State toll road at 171st Street. It runs all the way north and parallels Highway 41 and hooks up with the Wisconsin toll road way up in the northern part of the state of Illinois. Now we're going to talk here to Jim Kelly who is the assistant superintendent of Cook County Highway Department and also a little later on to Hugo Stark, the chief engineer. To get us a little background on what goes before the actual construction begins, somebody had to decide where to build this toll road. First of all, right? That's right. The first thing we must have is an alignment. That is the location of the road and it describes the area to which the road is

going to pass. Then you have to get clearance on the area to build the road. We have to get clearance for the right away and then we invite bids based on plans prepared by our department and these operations you see now are what we call the gradient and draining operations. These pieces of equipment are now in the process of doing the heavy grading or the preparation of the subgrade, prior to placing the concrete slabs. All right, now let's get down here to rock bottom where we're standing right now. Right here in front of us is a big piece of equipment and I think the people driving throughout the cadmeter and the cadmeter area down south and all out through the western northern part of the city of Chicago are familiar with because the activity of building roads is getting heavier and heavier. It's going to be right by us right now. Now, one of the most familiar pieces of equipment is this huge caterpillar yellow piece of machinery which is called watch him. That's what you call a scraper or a pan. It's used for

digging into a side hill to take out what might be turned, borrow, to bring the grade line up. It carries about 21 yards of dirt, places on the subgrade and then comes a caterpillar or a late -to -know, leveling out fit with a sheep's foot roller on the rear end to compact the soil is taken out of the impankments. Now this roller is what we're seeing in operation down here. The roller is pulled by a tractor with a grader on the front of the tractor. That's what you call a sheep's foot roller. It can be filled with water and has various weights depending on the compacts in the soil necessary. And one of the most important items is they have proper soil compaction and withstand the heavy loads which these loads are designed. The roller is actually pulled by a tractor and has that grader in front and the roller has huge spikes on it and inside the roller as Jim said is water and they vary the amount of water to determine how much weight they want to use on that roller. Well Jim, what you say then we're seeing the basic grading operation and draining operation. And the drainage operations, the

insulation, the tiles so forth, each of these roads, these highways are self -supporting in terms of drainage, the water must be carried away and these the various operations we're seeing are combined operations, grading and drainage. So this is the first operation of building a tall road. That is after they've cleared the land and got all the right away as Jim explained to you. It wasn't many months ago and this was all open prairie land and perhaps a tree here and there. It's all cleared out now. We're looking down about a half a mile away from it, they're building a big bridge. What's that bridge going to go over Jim? That's the bridge with overman high and road. It's typical of the operations we have on our expressways where it may drive the miles, prepare the forms for the concrete and get the basic supporting structure for the beams that we'll see later on. In other words, the work going on here in this tall highway is typical of the operations we have on the expressway system in Cook

County and the city of Chicago. However the equipment you see here is a little heavier than what we would use on our ordinary city type expressway. In other words, the volumes are dirt to be moved. I'm not as great at our expressways in the city as you see here. Well okay, Jim, we've got to move out of here where we can get to a spot that's a little more quiet and discuss further operations. We're going to talk about bridge building, we're going to talk about free stress concrete a little bit later on in our program telling the story of how a major road is constructed in the modern big machinery way. We're now driving in an automobile and we're about ready to pull on to the Congress Street Expressway which at the moment terminates on the west side at Manheim Road. Now this one little strip here of

expressway has been completed for some time. Jim, how long has it hasn't been finished? It's been completed at least five years. The first opening days we had about 9 ,000 vehicles using every daily and our present count is about 20 ,000 vehicles per day using the area from first Avenue to Manheim. We've just pulled out of the expressway now at Manheim Road and you go on it just after you get off of the hillside area down by the shopping center that was finished not too long ago. We have a speed limit here of 60 miles an hour and it goes all the way over to first Avenue. Why are the 60 miles an hour here Jim? 60 miles an hour has been proven the safe speed to drive one of these expressways. The design features, the introduction expressways will permit a speed of that type. Now you're finished all the way up to first Avenue. How long will it be before you continue going east from first on in?

What we call the Cook County link from first Avenue to Displains, that is first Avenue in Mayward to Displains Avenue Forest Park, should be underway early in 1958 with the changing of the Chicago R &O's in roadbed so that we will have the area available for the Congress Street Expressway traffic lanes. We have a bridge over the Displains River that must be moved to the north about 200 feet. We expect that within two years we should have the section between Displains, Avenue in first Avenue, well underway and completed. What about west of Madhyam Road? How long will it take you to finish that? West of Madhyam Road, the contract should be underway before the end of this year and construction completed within the next two years. Early in 1958 it should be completed from Madhyam Road west to the tow road interchange. That'll be the end of the Congress Street Expressway. That will complete the whole of the road approximately 18 to 20 miles from the loop out west of the county line. Okay Jim,

we want to thank you very much for talking to us. We're going to switch over to Hugo Stark now for some more of the program and we're going to move on down to where the Congress Street Expressway activity is going on around Displains Avenue. So when we move down there we'll pick up Hugo Stark, who is one of the higher vice presidents in the Cook County Highway Department. That's how you're hearing is from workmen who are moving some tracks out at Displains Avenue where the Congress Street Super Highway is going to go through. Now this has been a major headache out here at Displains Avenue for a good many years even before they decided to build Congress Street. Hugo Stark is standing right next to me, listening and watching as the workers go ahead with their activity and moving these railroad tracks. So I'm going to ask him to explain just how Congress Street is going to go through here and some of the things that they've had to do to get this land cleared. As you said they are now

moving tracks at Displains Avenue location for the CTA operation. Those sounds you hear in the background are jackhammers compressing the embankment. Our big headache out here has been the relocation of the B &O CT track which is the Baltimore High on Central Track and the Great Western tracks and the Rapid Transit tracks. The present time there are moving the tracks to the north to make room for the excavation which will follow for the expressway pavements. Now Hugo looking over here to the west of us a little way. We see that they have the CTA tracks over here and also the old Chicago Roar and Elgin tracks and the station where the trains used to go in and about a month and a half ago they stopped running. Now the county has purchased that property. What are you going to do with it? Well that property was required for the expressway from Displains Avenue to the Displains River and

some of the property being used by the CTA for their terminal area. The rest of it will be used for our expressways. Now we're looking over there we're about 50 feet or so away from Displains Avenue on the east side of it and looking over to the western side there's a CTA train pulling out right now a street car or that's an L train isn't an L train that's correct. Right now the Congress street expressway is going to come right along here is it not to my left? That's right just south of this location here. Well what will make a sharp turn after it gets by Displains? Make a turn. It'll make a turn but not a turn at all but actually be on a very slight curve which will not be noticeable by the drivers. Now will it swing over the tracks or under them? It will be under the tracks which will be over here to our crossing will be to the east of Displains Avenue. The highway will then proceed underneath Displains Avenue

and then come up to grades through the sanitaries and crossover Displains River and then follow into its first avenue under the Great Separation that's already built there. All right now we've got it from Displains Avenue west. How long is that going to take? I just expected that we'll have this completed by 59, late 59. Let's talk for a moment about Displains Avenue east. What's going to happen from here on all the way to Larri Avenue where it's finished now? At Displains Avenue east they're now in the process of building retaining walls on the south side of the other improvement and after that's completed why then the excavators will get in there and dig the hole for the railroad. After the excavation has been made the railroad will be moved down into the hole and after the railroads are then operating under new tracks the Congress Street Expressway will then be ready to be excavated and then we can start paving that section. You say they've already finished the retaining walls now you can see those from Larri Avenue or rather

from Central Avenue. They can see those from Old Park Avenue to Austin Boulevard. Let's go down to take a look at them then. All right, that'd be fine. Here go and I have just come to an area which is a little bit west of Old Park Avenue in the city of Oak Park. Now the Congress Street Expressway is coming right through this area and we're looking into a great huge open cut into the ground. This is one spot that we have seen all day and I think one spot that you can see in the entire road building activity in the Chicago area where you can see a tremendous area being excavated. Now this goes down all the way to Oak Park Avenue and back here to Clinton Street. They build a huge retaining wall here and so I'm going to let Hugo tell us what they're going to put in that big hole that we're looking down into. Well in the hole they'll be in those CT tracks and the CTA tracks after they have been removed from the north side of this excavation then we will be ready to proceed with the expressway

lanes and to excavate for those lanes but the tracks will have to move down in this hole first. Now we can actually we're standing on the same level as the tracks are right now. All of those tracks there are maybe 50 to 100 yards away from us are going to be moved from that upper level down into this lower level. Now it's correct. Well what are you going to you're going to leave them of course while you're moving them tracks down here so that the trains can run up there. That's right we'll have to have temporary runner -ums and use those for temporary runner -ums until we get the final location of the tracks in this excavated area down below here. And when you get the tracks laid down here you'll move those out and then you can start building your road. That is correct you. You know here is a very good example of why a very brief distance, a very short distance of railroad track of a of Congress Street track is so expensive. I mean you're only about a well from Oak Park to Oak Park to Clinton is not very much and this continues all the way out and then all that activity out at

displays is a good is a good example of why an expressway is so expensive. That's right you actually there are 10 different sets of plans for just a relocation of the railroad tracks during this operation in order to keep the railroad operating in the period of the construction. Now we won't have time to go down there Hugo but uh down at Central Avenue where there is a cutoff now from the expressway. You're going to build a huge overpass and a bridge right? That's correct uh you were building an overpass there to carry the bean OCT over Central Avenue as well as the CTA tracks and they're at present time they're building a bypass road in order to keep Central Avenue open during the construction of this bridge. You also have a big rotating wall from Laramie or rather from Central Avenue on out west don't you? That's correct. Does it come out this far? Well it'll meet up with this section at Oak Park Avenue. Well now in order to uh tell a story of how you build those bridges instead of actually going down there because there's no construction on the bridge going on right

now I would like for you to take us out to that quarry and talk about the way that you build those pre what is it pre -stressed pre -stressed bridges pre -stressed bridges from concrete. That's right uh the pre -stressing is done on at the quarry and the plan of the Lewis town pipe company and after they're constructed there they're moved out to the job as the same as you would a structural steel member. Let's go out there and take a look at that operation. Fine. We've come out to the Dolescent Shepherd quarry located out on the southwest side of the city of Chicago where they are constructing forms which will house pre -stressed concrete beams which will go into bridges. Just to start this is an operation which is really fantastic. We've stood around here a little while and watched it and you've told me something about it. I think what I better do is just have you repeat some of the things you told me and we can get pretty much the idea of how immense

this sort of operation has to be. Well in order to reach you with how we got into pre -stressed beams I have to start at the beginning which was we were using structural steel beams entirely and in view of the shortage of steel and the delay caused by the structural steel companies of from 12 to 15 or 18 months it was necessary to get a product that we could use immediately so we started using these pre -stressed beams. The principle of the pre -stressed beam is to use stranded steel wire which are stressed up to a hundred and twenty thousand pounds per square inch and place them in the bottom of a concrete beam and thenly beam after the initial set has been obtained the strands are released and the concrete end is put in compression. Now these beams are eighty feet long and they weigh approximately thirty -three tons. Well now let's stop right there because we've got to the point where you have to pour this concrete into

the form. The form is what these boys are working on here you can hear them in the background and down in this form it's actually a long trough. There are these cables which Mr. Stark mentioned. These long strands of steel cable and they're stretched out from one end of this thing to the other. Now what happens you drop all your material for your concrete into this trough is that right? That is correct all the concrete is dropped into the trough and vibrate it into place and then permitted to set and cure for a week before the strands are cut. Of course they're made into forms which are pre -set by your engineers in other words what these forms they're working on are all designed by some engineer. That is correct they're designed in the shape of an eye beam section similar to what a structural steel section looks like outside the flanges are much heavier. You know looking over here now to the behind us and off to the south a little bit there are two concrete beams but they're not very long what are those? Well those were experimental sections to

design the forms by and to find out other properties necessary to continue with the long beams. It actually looks like an eye beam only of course much much bigger and it's concrete and it looks like it would naturally form the part of a bridge and that's what these are for right? That is correct. Well okay it's certainly in a gigantic operation. Now one final thing that I have to ask you about after you get these 80 to 90 foot long 35 ton pieces of equipment how do you going to get them from here at the quarry? After where you want to put them on a bridge. Well they're loaded on the large trucks there's a large piece of equipment here first it's used for loading them and the trucks then take them out to the project site and these beams are going on the Eden's Expressway at Wilson Avenue. So what is this big lift here pick up that 35 ton piece of concrete transferred to a truck and from here it goes up to where it you're where you're building the bridge? Well here's what the man I am rolled up to Wilson Avenue over to Eden's Expressway.

All right we better move on in our story of what the Cook County Highway Department is doing in the business of building modern highways. Well we have just finished seeing how they go about building a bridge or at least how they get that pre -stressed concrete eye beam and bring it back in to build a bridge. We're back now on an Expressway the Congress Street Expressway which stretches between First Avenue and Manheim Road on the west side without it only proper to finish our program here because this is the oldest stretch of the Congress Street Expressway that it's been finished and it's certainly a fine one indeed. Speed limit along here is 60 miles an hour and at first I thought that people wouldn't use it because it was so short of a stretch it's only about two and a half miles I believe but it's been used very much. Now Jim I want to get back to you for our final closing comments and mention the fact that once you get finished with all of the Congress Street Expressway and all the Expressways and tow roads throughout the Chicago area

and link them all up in four or five years from now you think your job is done at that point? No we don't according the words of our superintendent Bill Mortimer. We got to think in terms of transportation arteries not necessarily Expressways they aren't the answers all the transportation problem. It must be coordinated thinking between rail, air, highway and other types of vehicle movements. In fact we have plans I see we in the highway department have plans for what might be called the four mile alternate road system whereby every four miles there'll be a major type of highway a modified type of express way to take those major movements of traffic off of the Old Horse and Bucky Road not necessarily the high type of expressway that we're now riding upon. We believe that those new arteries will serve a different purpose they'll be used for the community type of travel. They'll be located in strategic highway routes both north and south and

east and west. We do believe that more thought should be given as I say to a combined system of transportation facilities. Well here we want to thank you very much for allowing us to tell a story of how the Cook County Highway Department has involved in building Expressways and some of the plans of the future that you have. We certainly want to thank Mr. William Mortimer who is the Cook County Superintendent of Highways and you Jim Kelly assistant superintendent along with Hugo Stark the chief engineer who has been on the program and Frank Marketek who is an engineer with the Cook County Highway Department for driving his around and taking us to different locations so that it could help tell the story. That is the story of the Cook County Highway Department and the building of highways in the Chicago area and this is Hugh Hill speaking.