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The Chicago Tunnel Company was the builder and operator of a 2 ft (610 mm) narrow-gauge railway freight tunnel network under downtown Chicago, Illinois. This was regulated by the Interstate Commerce Commission as an interurban even though it operated entirely under central Chicago, did not carry passengers, and was entirely underground. [ 1 ]
Jun 20, 2023 · Chicago was expanding rapidly, with the population rising from 30,000 in 1850 to 500,000 by 1870. This rapid growth made it necessary to create an efficient transportation system. The tunnels were constructed with two goals in mind: to improve public transportation, and to reduce the noise and pollution caused by the city’s booming population.
The Tunnel and Reservoir Plan (abbreviated TARP and more commonly known as the Deep Tunnel Project or the Chicago Deep Tunnel) is a large civil engineering project that aims to reduce flooding in the metropolitan Chicago area, and to reduce the harmful effects of flushing raw sewage into Lake Michigan by diverting storm water and sewage into temporary holding reservoirs.
Just 40 feet below the streets of Chicago lies a long-abandoned tunnel system that could soon become part of the transformation of the modern urban environment. In the early 20th century, the Chicago Tunnel Company built a narrow-gauge railway initially intended to carry excavated material from the installation of telephone lines.
- A Visionary History
- Groundbreaking Technology
- Extreme Weather Challenges
TARP’s roots stretch back to the early days of Chicago’s long history—and necessity—of aquatic engineering. Chicago is built upon a swamp, and for decades engineering projects like TARP have worked to maintain balance in how the city’s water fluctuates and flows. The city sits at the nexus of two major waterways: the Chicago River, which flows thro...
The foundations of TARP are a system of large tunnels and vast reservoirs designed to capture overflow in rainy weather, which is then pumped into one of the system’s seven water reclamation plants to be cleaned. And when they say big, they mean it. “You could stack 12 Soldier Field stadiums inside Thornton Composite Reservoir and more than 11 insi...
As extreme weather events become more common, TARP engineers have grappled with the challenge of designing a system to support more dramatic cycles of flooding. “Climate change alters the hydrological cycle, leading to changes to the amount, timing, form and intensity of precipitation,” Fore said. “As the agency responsible for managing both region...
Mar 17, 2003 · The latest big unit, the 16· foot Chicago avenue tunnel, completed in 1936, is one of the greatest single engineering jobs in the world, and few people know anything about it. Running 130 to 200 feet below the surface, this 11½-mile tunnel was blasted out of bedrock with 3,000,000 pounds of dynamite.
space available, purpose, and how the tunnel will work within the existing sewer system, deep tunnel systems around the globe are all different. Some of the global deep tunnel systems that are in service include the following: • Alcosan Dry Weather Flow Tunnel • Atlanta Deep Tunnel • Chicago Tunnel and Reservoir Plan (TARP)
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