Lake Shore Drive reopens after smoke from downtown fire shuts down lanes

Traffic resumes on a section of Lake Shore Drive after being closed for more than an hour Wednesday because of thick smoke from a fire downtown.

Wooden pallets caught fire about 1:40 p.m. at a construction site in the 100 block of North Harbor Drive, according to Chicago police and fire officials.

The fire was out by 1:54 p.m., fire department spokesman Larry Merritt said.

Inbound and outbound lanes of Lake Shore Drive were closed between Madison and Illinois streets because of smoke from the fire but were reopened by 3 p.m., police said.