Monroe Street bridge over Kennedy Expressway to close for reconstruction

The Monroe Street bridge over the Kennedy Expressway is shutting down this week as crews work to reconstruct the bridge over the next year and a half.

The structure will be fully closed to vehicle and pedestrian traffic until summer 2019, according to the Illinois Department of Transportation. Detours will be available for those driving west on Monroe to go south on Des Plaines, west on Adams and north on Halsted back to Monroe.

Eastbound traffic on Monroe should go north on Halsted, east on Madison and south on Des Plaines back to Monroe, IDOT said. Pedestrians were advised to use the Madison Street bridge.

The construction work is part of the Jane Byrne Interchange Project, which has already included the reconstruction of the bridges carrying Halsted Street, Taylor Street, Morgan Street, Harrison Street and Peoria Street over I-90/94, IDOT said.

When the new Monroe Street bridge opens it will have two lanes in each direction and sidewalks on both sides of the bridge, IDOT said.