Crews expected to pile boulders along the city’s South Side shoreline early next year

The rumble and growl of heavy equipment is coming to the city’s south shoreline, as crews get set to haul in boulders as a buffer against high water and winter’s battering waves.

Much like the work underway at three North Side beaches, crews are expected to install “riprap” along the lakeshore between 49th and 50th streets, according to the Chicago Department of Transportation. The work is expected to begin in January, officials said.

The Chicago Park District has submitted a plan to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources for the construction of two breakwaters at the Jackson Park Outer Harbor, city officials said. The goal is to begin construction in spring 2020.

Near-record-high lake levels, coupled with powerful storms in October and November, have accelerated beachfront erosion, leading to the failure of an existing breakwater at Jackson Park and the partial closure of the harbor.

In some places along the lake, the storms generated 12-foot waves. Water in Lake Michigan is about 3 feet higher than the historical average, officials said. Those high levels are expected to last at least through spring 2020.

Sun-Times file photo