April 12, 2014 – The new river wall will start to be secured using tie rods and walers.

Tie rods anchor the vertical beams of the river wall so they are in an upright position and do not fall into the water. Walers provide additional support, running horizontally near the top to align and brace the wall.

(Left) Not normally exposed like this, of course, green tie rods are seen here connecting a seawall in Florida to a “deadman” firmly anchored in buried concrete. (Click on images to view larger versions.)

Otherwise, H-piles and sheet piles will continue to be pounded into the riverbank between State Street and LaSalle Street. H-piles are the larger vertical beams that will support the Riverwalk. Sheet piles are long sections of beams that connect to form the river wall.

(Right) A row of H-piles near Wacker Drive & Clark Street is seen in the lower left corner of this image captured on April 5.

Workers will continue removing old concrete and they will demolish the arch over a ComEd equipment room between Clark and LaSalle.

Work hours are 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Friday, and 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday. Construction equipment starts up at 6:30 a.m.

The north sidewalk of Wacker Drive is closed between Clark and LaSalle until December.

Chicago Department of Transportation declined to explain a lull in construction activity that lasted at least a few days. Pile driving resumed on April 9 at about 3:15 p.m.

• Previous: Riverwalk construction update April 7-12
• More photos: Construction of the Chicago Riverwalk