Several lanes of the Eisenhower Expressway shut down around midday Thursday after reports of gunfire prompted officers to canvass the roadway near Harlem Avenue. No injuries have been reported in connection with the incident, which happened around 11:30 a.m. on I-290 east of Central Avenue.
According to NBC Chicago, police blocked several lanes of the expressway around noon near Harlem Avenue as officers worked to investigate reports of an expressway shooting. TrafficNet reported that inbound lanes of the expressway were shut down between Harlem Avenue and Austin Boulevard as the roadway canvass got underway, snarling traffic on one of the region's busiest corridors.
A Corridor That Keeps Making Headlines
Thursday's closure adds to a run of gunfire reports that have repeatedly disrupted the Eisenhower this year. Back in March, an overnight shooting investigation near Homan Avenue forced outbound lanes closed, and in May a motorcyclist was shot near California Avenue on the same stretch — a closure that preceded a separate multi-car crash hours later that night. Just weeks before that, in September 2025, inbound lanes of the Eisenhower were shut down entirely for another shooting probe.
In this case, multiple lanes were closed while investigators canvassed the roadway, disrupting traffic on the Eisenhower.
How Investigators Track Down Suspects
The expressway camera network includes nearly 300 cameras on Cook County expressways. In 2025, the General Assembly expanded the Tamara Clayton Expressway Camera Act to permit camera use in forcible-felony and human-trafficking investigations, according to Illinois Senate Democrats. The law is named for a postal worker killed on I-57 in 2019.
In August, Illinois State Police Division of Criminal Investigation Zone 1 special agents arrested two Chicago men on attempted murder charges after a two-month investigation into a June 19 road-rage shooting on westbound I-290 near Morgan Avenue — a case Hoodline detailed in its report on the men charged in June's I-290 gunfire.
Fewer Shootings, But Still No Room for Error
Statewide, the broader trend is moving in the right direction. Illinois State Police reported that interstate shootings statewide dropped 31 percent in 2025 compared to 2024, falling to 61 incidents from 89 — an 80 percent decline from the 310 shootings recorded at the peak in 2021. Illinois also recorded zero fatal interstate shootings in 2025, down from 12 highway shooting deaths in 2024 and 28 in 2021, according to Capitol News Illinois, with state officials crediting proactive patrols and rapid camera-based tracking for driving fatalities to zero.
Still, reports of gunfire like Thursday's can ripple through commuter traffic on routes like the Eisenhower.
Police investigated the reported I-290 incident.
