July 16, 2014 – A telescopic boom lift – some call it a cherry picker – weighing 21,800 pounds was recovered from the Chicago River on Wednesday.

The lift, made by JLG Industries, Inc., was on a construction barge that sank early on June 10 on the east side of the LaSalle Street Bridge. The barge was being used to help expand the Chicago Riverwalk.

Working in an area in the southeast corner of the bridge, a diver attached two cables to the lift, which a crane then used to hoist it out of the water. Caked in mud and oozing oil, the lift emerged basket-first at 4:45 p.m. and was carried by the crane over to a barge used to haul construction material.

A Chicago Police boat and a United States Coast Guard boat were nearby. A representative of the Environmental Protection Agency was also watching the recovery. Boats passing the area were urged by radio or megaphone to “slow down.”

The barge that sank is still at the bottom of the Chicago River. It is 50 feet long and 20 feet wide and will be recovered by pumping air into it to make it float.

(Above) A diver for Global Infrastructure, a salvage company with an office in Griffith, Indiana, prepares to step back into the Chicago River on Wednesday afternoon shortly before a sunken, nearly eleven-ton piece of construction equipment was raised east of LaSalle Street. To help them plan the recovery, the salvage crew studied a photograph of the lift taken before it sank. (Click on images to view larger versions.)

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