Overnight closures to begin on Lake Shore Drive for Navy Pier Flyover work

Two northbound lanes of Lake Shore Drive will close overnight this week beginning Monday as work continues on the Navy Pier Flyover project.

The two right lanes of northbound Lake Shore Drive will be closed from 10 p.m. until 6 a.m. on Monday and Tuesday, and possibly on Wednesday if necessary, according to the Chicago Department of Transportation.

On Wednesday nights during Navy Pier fireworks, the 10 p.m. closure time will be pushed back to accommodate exiting traffic.

Closures are already in place on two westbound lanes of Grand Avenue between North Streeter Drive and North Lake Shore Drive as workers erect steel beams.

After the work on Grand is compete, work will begin over Illinois and will require the closure of two lanes near lower Lake Shore Drive and intermittent overnight closures.

The 1.5 mile, $60 million project is aimed at eliminating a notorious bottleneck along the lakefront path near Navy Pier that has created a dangerous free-for-all between cyclists, joggers, skaters, pedestrians and motorists, according to CDOT. The dedicated bike and pedestrian path will be 16 feet wide and extend from Jane Addams Park to just south of the Chicago River bridge.

It will offer a safe and scenic alternative to a confusing and dangerous stretch of the 18.5-mile lakefront trail that features blind corners, narrow rights-of-way and traffic conflicts that choke the trail and create a hazardous experience for pedestrians, cyclists and motor vehicles.

The lakefront trail has remained open to pedestrians and cyclists during the four-year construction project, but officials have warned of periodic detours.

The project is being carried out in three phases. The first phase is the north segment, which began construction in March 2014. Starting at the north end of Jane Addams Park, the path rises over the Ohio Street underpass and Grand Avenue onto upper Lake Shore Drive behind Lake Point Tower.

It will then cross over Illinois and terminate north of Ogden Slip. In addition, a ramp down to Navy Pier following the alignment of the Lake Shore Drive off-ramp will be constructed during this phase.

The middle phase is the DuSable segment over DuSable Park, anticipated to begin construction in spring 2016.

The third and final phase is the Lake Shore Drive bridge segment. It will double the width of the sidewalk on the east side of the existing Lake Shore Drive Bridge by cantilevering off the existing structure and passing through the two existing east side bridge houses. It will connect to the existing path on the south side and the new flyover path on the north side.