Commuters in Chicago can expect smoother drives come Monday morning as the Kennedy Expressway express lanes return to their regular inbound routine, easing the traffic for those pouring into the city. According to a report by NBC Chicago, the Illinois Department of Transportation has wrapped up a hefty chunk of a three-year expressway overhaul, which had lanes routed outbound-only, now reversing course to facilitate inbound flows too.
While this comes as welcome news, IDOT warns of continued construction closer to the earth with closures of several outbound ramps into late October, the Wilson Avenue exit ramp will shutter its gates Monday night for what is anticipated to be two solid weeks, and while the outbound Kennedy ramp to Division Street looks to a mid-October reopening the Ontario Street feeder ramp to the outbound Kennedy is set for a shutdown in the upcoming week or two as per WGN-TV.
State officials maintain confidence that the expressway construction will beat the clock, crossing the finish line weeks before the Thanksgiving Day deadline, aligning with the scheduled pace. They've made it clear that all Interstate 90/94 outbound lanes are open, and the reversible express lanes resumed normal operations at the break of dawn around 5 a.m. Monday, signaling a significant milestone in the infrastructural facelift.
Additionally, the saga of construction on the Kennedy continues, with works on Ohio Street and Ontario Street ramps set to extend through the next summer, this according to information from both NBC Chicago and WGN-TV; these projects are not connected to the recent overhaul but present their own layer of complication the IDOT committing to maintaining two lanes open in each direction between Orleans Street and the Kennedy, thus ensuring some semblance of normalcy in the city's pulsing veins of transport.
