Highway construction turns up charred Chicago Fire debris

CHICAGO (AP) - Highway construction in Chicago has turned up charred debris from the Chicago Fire.

The Illinois Department of Transportation is in the final stages of a two-year, $134 million reconstruction of ramps connecting Interstate-55 and Lake Shore Drive.

Project engineer Anthony Quigley says workers drilling holes for new pillars this year and last year turned up bricks, wooden timbers and ash from the October 1871 fire that destroyed most of the city.

However, IDOT resident engineer Eric Ray wouldn't say he thought the find was interesting. Instead he called it annoying.

IDOT spokeswoman Gianna Urgo says worked was slowed by the change in methods and equipment to deal with the debris. She noted historical preservationists weren't called in because fire debris was commonly used as landfill along the Lake Michigan shoreline.