Light poles keep falling in Chicago -- where is the city in its promise to replace poles deemed dangerous?
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Decayed light poles have been causing damage across Chicago – and in some cases, they have even landed on residents.
It is a problem the CBS 2 Investigators have been exposing for years.
Chicago Department of Transportation hired a subcontractor inspect poles visually about five years ago. In 2017 and 2018, the city went ahead with a survey of poles across the city and vowed to replace the dangerous ones. They found a concerning amount of rust in the Streeterville area – where yet another pole came down on Friday. So what's been done to fix it?
CBS 2 Investigator Megan Hickey followed up on the progress from the city's promise Monday – three days after that latest pole crashed down onto two unsuspecting drivers.
At Grand Avenue and Columbus Drive, the pole that fell on Friday was out of the way, but still lying on the sidewalk surrounded by orange cones -- with its visibly rusted-out base. We wanted to know if it had been checked recently, because directly across the street, there is a brand-new light pole.
The reason there's a brand-new light pole is that another rusted-out pole that had been its place crashed to the ground last month. Again, this was right across the street from the one that fell on Friday.
When the pole that fell Friday, it was a very close call for Bailey Ippolito and her boyfriend, Donovan Palmer, who were in a sport-utility vehicle stopped at the intersection.
The pole landed right on the passenger side of the SUV, where Palmer was sitting.
"I could have died if we were a little bit closer, but I'm grateful to be here," Palmer said.
And one year ago Tuesday, our crews captured another pole that snapped and crashed to the sidewalk just steps to the east at 339 E. Grand Ave.
Poles have also fallen at several other sites in Streeterville in recent years. Just over a year ago, another rusted out pole snapped and crashed to the sidewalk only a few blocks away at Ontario Street and McClurg Court – along with an attached traffic signal.
And about a year before that, a pole fell onto a 25-year-old woman's Jeep at Illinois Street and McClurg Court – just a block away from the intersection where the last two incidents happened. That incident left the woman, Isabella Keating, with the concussion, and resulted in a lawsuit against the city.
Before that, there was Maya Kirk, who was struck by a falling light pole while walking to work in the Loop on Nov. 21, 2019. She called out the City of Chicago for failing to maintain or repair light poles citywide.
Kirk suffered serious injuries to her head and leg when the pole snapped at its base as she walked past the State of Illinois' James R. Thompson Center, around 161 N. LaSalle St.
"I was just thinking that fell on me," Kirk told CBS 2 in a January 2020 report. "How am I still here?"
The CBS 2 Investigators obtained the raw data from that 2017-2018 light pole survey, which cost more than $2.5 million.
This map shows a breakdown of the total number of concerning light poles by neighborhood. Map by Samah Assad/CBS 2.
The data are inconsistent, and we've asked CDOT to clarify - but it appears the pole at Grand and Columbus that fell Friday was graded a "3" for rust. This was "concerning," according to notes from the contractor.
CDOT confirmed late Monday that at its last inspection, the pole that fell at Grand and Columbus on Friday was also graded to have a "concerning" amount of rust. Google Maps images from 2009 already show a significant amount of rust that only got worse throughout the years.
Some nearby poles on Grand Avenue also got the same "3" or "concerning" grade. So why are they still there?
CDOT did not answer that question. But the department said it is also on track to replace about another 430 decaying light poles in the city by the end of 2022. Following the survey, CDOT said it has replaced 2,007 light poles to date.
