Update: City officials fill giant Edison Park pothole after residents raise concerns
CHICAGO (WLS) -- Update- Residents told ABC7 Chicago city officials filled the giant pothole on Touhy Avenue Wednesday morning after our original story aired Tuesday evening.
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Touhy Avenue is a busy corridor for 18-wheelers and neighbors say when they hit a massive pothole it sounds like a bomb going off, even causing homes to shake. It's like an asphalt landmine.
"The ground shakes. My house has been shaking. I've got nails protruding out of my drywall from it," said Joe Schutz, Edison Park resident.
Schutz is among several neighbors in the 7500-block of Touhy Avenue that are fed up with the noise and worried about safety.
"It's just starting to be chaos with the dodging of the potholes," Schutz said. "They're speeding up, slowing down, going in other lanes."
ABC 7 Eyewitness News measured the pothole using Apple's measure app, and multiple readings showed it to be more than four feet in length and 26 inches, or more than two feet, in width. That's a large pothole that's not so easy to dodge.
"I have seen a couple hubcaps out here," said a neighbor who wished to remain anonymous.
He said he's called 311 twice, in part because of the block's tragic history. Feet from the pothole is a memorial where in 2009 an off-duty police officer was killed on his motorcycle by a driver turning left.
The officer's family sued the city, alleging potholes in this section of Touhy, where water collects near a storm drain, contributed to the crash.
"We get potholes. They happen in the city. It's not that big of a deal, but this one is," the neighbor said.
A CDOT spokesperson was looking into when that pothole might be repaired but said pothole projects across the city have been delayed because of constant rainy weather.
