Slow, but not dreadful.
That’s how Friday’s commute was shaping up about 7:40 a.m. in the vicinity of the Jane Byrne Interchange, as work on the Flyover continues there.
The Illinois Department of Transportation began the first stage of work on the interchange Tuesday night, shifting lanes and closing ramps from Roosevelt Road and Taylor Street.
Delays had been predicted due to roadwork
Officials were expecting increased travel times Friday morning once additional lanes are reduced an narrowed for Flyover work, IDOT said in a news release. An estimate of delay times will not be known until travel patterns are formed over the next several weeks, IDOT said.
The $475 million project, scheduled to be completed in 2018, is aimed at reducing congestion on the interchange by half, according to IDOT.
On Wednesday, lane closures forced cars onto city streets to avoid the interchange. Among the changes, the two lanes that take drivers onto the single-lane ramp connecting the Dan Ryan to the Eisenhower Expressway will be reduced to just one lane, lasting until summer of 2016.
Access to Congress Parkway from the Dan Ryan is closed until next summer. The three northbound and three southbound lanes of Interstate 90/94 that act as a main artery through the city will be open except for a few overnight closures between Labor Day and Thanksgiving.
