Bridge lifts planned Wednesday for 1st Chicago River boat run of 2018

The City of Chicago will kick off the 2018 boating season by lifting the bridges over the Chicago River Wednesday morning for the year’s first boat run.

Starting at 9:30 a.m., the 27 bridges along the river from South Ashland Avenue to Lake Shore Drive will be lifted sequentially to allow recreational boats to move from storage yards to harbors in Lake Michigan, according to a statement from the Chicago Department of Transportation.

“Despite this spring’s colder than normal temperatures, Chicagoans look forward to the lifting of Chicago’s iconic movable river bridges,” CDOT Commissioner Rebekah Scheinfeld said in the statement. “CDOT works with local boat storage yards each year to create a schedule that accommodates boats while causing the least amount of impact on downtown street traffic.”

The bridges will typically be raised one at a time, and each bridge lift will take an average of 8-12 minute, CDOT said. The boat runs are scheduled to occur every Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. and every Saturday at 8 a.m. through June 30.