Rausch began the project with demolition of the existing shoreline cap stones followed by reconstruction of the sheet pile sea wall. Battered H-pile bracing was installed as soon as possible to withstand wave pressure and prevent damage to the shoreline. Stone fill, sourced from the demolished stone shoreline and recycled by an on-site crushing plant, was placed behind the new sheet pile sea wall. Construction of the concrete step stone revetment followed.   Underwater rubble mound revetment was placed using material barged to the site.  The drainage gap cofferdam was dewatered using a 1.5 million gallon per day pump. Concrete was then poured, the bottom of which was below the lake water level. The water was restrained using a sheet pile cofferdam, which was later removed by divers. Lastly, the park surrounding the shoreline was filled and re-graded and grass sod was installed.

The large quantity of material that needed to be transported to the site posed a logistical problem. Nearly 7,000 semi-truck loads of material and 35 barges of revetment stone were needed.  If these trucks lined up bumper to bumper, they would span 92 miles, the distance from Chicago to Milwaukee. The area surrounding the Chicago Shoreline is an active recreational facility, with no major highways, directly into the park, merely narrow curved roads and parking lots not suitable for truck transportation.  Careful scheduling and coordination of material deliveries was executed to ensure that material was delivered to the site in a timely manner and that the trucks and barges downtime was minimized. Roads and parking near the site were reconstructed to enable the safe and quick passage of trucks in and out of the site.

The shoreline project took place during two Chicago winters, resulting in dangerously cold weather, a snow and ice covered site, and frozen construction equipment.  The strong waves of Lake Michigan posed a constant threat to the construction of the project. 150 feet of sheet pile wall in November of 2000 was destroyed. The waves also washed out newly poured concrete. To overcome these issues, concrete pouring was planned around the weather to eliminate wash out. Sheet pile wall was braced immediately to withstand the wave pressure, thus minimizing and preventing damage.  Defrosting of equipment, through the use of propane heaters and tents, was a necessity to maintain schedule and budget and to satisfy client needs.