(Above) 150 North Riverside, designed by Goettsch Partners, imagined from the southeast. Click on image to view larger version.

March 27, 2015 – A flotilla of barges the size of two NBA basketball courts will travel up the Chicago River in April. They will sit next to the 150 North Riverside project for about two months.

The barges will carry 100,000 pounds of pre-cast steel planks to help cover the seven commuter rail tracks that lead to Union Station. On top of the steel will be a one-acre public park and a 53-story office tower.

Measuring 132 feet long by 99 feet wide, the barges will take up nearly half the width of the river. They will hug the west bank between Lake Street and Randolph Street on the south branch.

The planks will run horizontally over the tracks to support a new roof. They will rest on walls built by Amtrak, which owns the tracks and Union Station.

According to Jon Hollowell, superintendent for Chicago Steel Construction, Amtrak requires that the barges are able to support 1.5 times the weight of the planks.

Assembled and loaded near the Canal Street Bridge, south of Ping Tom Memorial Park, the barges will be pushed by tugboat north almost to Lake Street. The trip will start early in the morning and take about four hours. Chicago Steel Construction, working for Clark Construction Group, wants to do this in mid-April and an exact date is being worked out with Chicago Department of Transportation.

The barges will be carrying a crane, requiring bridges along the way to be raised.

The crane will operate mostly at night, between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m., until the last two weeks, when it will work during the day. The barges will retreat back to Canal Street in mid-June.