Part of Chicago street turned into solid block of ice, freezing cars in place
CHICAGO (CBS) -- This week's deep freeze in Chicago has some drivers in the Bucktown neighborhood spinning their wheels. Their cars are trapped in ice after a pipe problem flooded their street with water that then froze over.
One entire side of the 2300 block of West St. Paul Av. was turned into a block of ice.
One hole left by a car's wheel is at least six or seven inches deep, and it wasn't the only car that got stuck in the ice. So were two other cars in front of it.
A Chicago Water Management crew went out to spread salt in an effort to loosen some of the cars stuck in the ice.
Wednesday morning, one woman managed to get her car free with the help of a tow truck.
"But with that much ice, you're locked in at that point. You're just gonna sit there and spin your tires," said North Shore Towing tow truck driver Kelly Rhude. "If it was less ice, then you could probably put down some kitty litter or something, and drive out of it, give yourself a little traction."
Other drivers tried spinning their wheels, but they weren't budging. Rick Rolbiecki said his car was stuck until something changes.
"I'd say, yeah, probably closer to like 6-8 inches of solid ice there," Rolbiecki said. "What a great start to 2025. Hopefully it gets warmer sooner. That's the only thing I can really think of right now."
The bottom portion of Rolbiecki's tire was entirely stuck in ice, after a previous attempt to get out of the slush on the street failed.
"I see a car that is not going to be going anywhere; completely stuck in ice," he said. "I'd say it's probably 10 times worse. I figured it was probably just my car, but obviously there's a couple more like that right now."
Rolbiecki said had to use a ridesharing service when he couldn't get out.
"Luckily, I do work from home. So most of the time I don't have to rely too much on transport, but there has been a couple of times where I basically kinda wanted to use [the car], but can't at this point," he said.
But Rolbiecki said he's in no rush to get his car out.
"The biggest learning lesson, maybe I could've moved it sooner, but it's free parking on this street, so I can't complain too much," he said.
Residents said there has been a pipe problem on their block, with yellow tape and orange traffic cones indicating a broken water main might be the source of the ice. City officials said the water main on that block was installed in 1991.
The situation has some local drivers planning to steer clear of that side of the street.