Plows and salt-spreading trucks were in easier striking distance of LakeShoreDrive, and they started treating the roadway hours before snow began falling.
The only visible evidence of the ambitious tower he had planned is a cylindrical 76-foot-deep foundation hole and a ramp access to nearby LakeShoreDrive.
The scenes came almost exactly two years after a blizzard marooned at least 1, 500 cars and buses on Chicago's iconic LakeShoreDrive, leaving hundreds of people shivering in their vehicles for as long as 12 hours and questioning why the city didn't close the crucial thoroughfare earlier.