I smell a scandal...

Interesting. I can't imagine any kind of concrete structure could fail this quickly after construction though. It takes years for rebar to rust and cause spalling.

Was it on the parapet/sound wall, or the columns?

No it was on the concrete deck fascia, not the columns or sound wall panels. It had the appearance of what you see on deteriorating overpass piers. Except the rebar was still intact with a green coating. Like occasionally you’ll see after-the-fact alterations in walls and parking decks, but the disturbed areas will be lightly saw cut so they are square or angular. These had pot hole like appearances, only disturbed to the first layer of rebar.

Thats really really really bad if true. That would seem to point to a major bond failure between the concrete and the epoxy coated rebar. If the stresses and vibrations of the viaduct are causing this spalling this is major. Major.

Interesting, like this area you mean? Might have been a problem with the concrete mix or not vibrated correctly in the forms. Or the connection detail for those sound panels may have caused some stress in the concrete leading to damage. If the rebar was green then it was coated, so it's definitely not a corrosion problem.

https://i.ibb.co/1JRpK76/flyover.jpg

Here's hoping the concrete was removed intentionally for a positive reason, and not as the result of (or investigation into) quality issues...

The red area is where it is, just further up (north)

Walked by it a moment ago. Ardecila, I think you’re right. The panel mounts are breaking through the fascia. The damage is worse than I saw this morning. I took pictures but have no way of posting.

Try using imgur.com to upload the photos.

This sounds pretty concerning

Wow, that's scary. I wonder if the CTA is aware of this issue?

I searched twitter “CTA flyover” and found this.

https://twitter.com/srboisvert/statu...798417926?s=21

They're gonna have to rebuild the whole wall. Hopefully the contractor eats the cost and not the taxpayer.

The 100 year old concrete walls being replaced on the Red & Purple Lines looked better than this

Was the concrete soundwall even necessary? They should have just have used a galvanized railing.

The tracks curve as they ascend the flyover. Leaving the sides open to the noise from squealing wheels 30 feet above a residential neighborhood would have been quite a "screw you" to Wrigleyville.

I'm pretty sure this is required, yes. This is how Environmental Impact is supposed to work - you identify impacts like increased noise pollution, and propose design solutions like a sound wall.

It looks like they tried to do too much, though. To keep the flyover structure as slender and sleek as possible, they specified a concealed panel connection that looks really nice and clean in a section drawing, but isn't rigid enough. Looks like the concrete spalling is caused by flex in the connection.

In the overall result from what was there to now, it seems more of a thoughtful gesture. Residents have endured much louder track noise on the existing steel structure and constant track switch clatter. I speak from experience. Ultimately, the sound walls will reduce certain noise, but to a limit. But imagine showing plans with no visible sound mitigation techniques. The problem with concrete, is unless there’s very specific acoustical treatments, it can bounce sound all around instead of absorbing it. The curve on the flyover is gentle enough that you don’t get that squealing wheel noise, but you’d hear sounds at the rail joints, and there’s a knocking noise, where the train “shudders” at the very top before descending. So it’s best to do all that you can to dampen that.

Oil has reach $5 a gallon in the city, and prices will continue to climb. Alongside offices requiring employees to return to work, this could jumpstart transit ridership post-COVID

Agreed. I was driving by a gas station the other day and saw $4.96 and had to do a double take. Even way out in the post-Cook exburbs, prices are north of $4 there too.

The Blue line outbound from downtown on Friday afternoon was PACKED. I have no pre-Covid exposure, so I don't know how that compares, but it was the busiest I have seen the trains in all of the time I have spent in the city over the last year.

Wow, well I guess that’s good for transit. However, many will probably choose WFH over riding the train so I’m not sure how much gas prices will really boost transit ridership