A new round of construction on the much anticipated Navy Pier Flyover, which promises to transport lakefront path users over the traffic of two busy intersections, began Wednesday morning.
It’s slated for completion by the end of 2018. The last segment of the flyover that needs to be built is an 800-foot stretch of elevated pathway that will connect the lakefront trail to the lower deck of the Lake Shore Drive bridge over the Chicago River.
When complete, cyclists and runners will be able to look over the side of the sloping rampway and smile at the car traffic on Grand and Illinois Avenues, which previously held them up.
“That safety goal that we have set will finally be accomplished,” Mayor Rahm Emanuel said Wednesday, shortly before using a shovel to break ground.
Emanuel also thanked the public for their patience with the project that began in 2014 and has been mocked for taking longer to complete than the Golden Gate Bridge.
“All the people, pedestrians and the residents of Chicago, I want to thank them ahead of time for their patience,” Emanuel said.
On Wednesday, reporters were allowed access to the flyover, and completed portions look pretty slick.
The latest phase of construction, however, is not the project’s home stretch.
Yet another phase is slated to begin in the middle of 2018. That will last about a year and double the width of the 8-foot sidewalks on the bridge over the river. A pathway on the bridge will remain open to runners and cyclists during construction.
When asked to comment about the public’s frustration with the length of the project, Chicago Department of Transportation Commissioner Rebekah Scheinfeld said Wednesday: “I think it’s actually a testament to how excited people are about this. People are very eager for this to happen. This is a transformative investment that’s going to last for future generations.”
Officials acknowledged last month that the construction timeline to complete the entire project — originally set for mid-2018 — was set back due to unanticipated design complications.
The problem: The double-deck bridge that carries traffic over the river on Lake Shore Drive and opens and closes for boats. The bridge, built in the ’30s, requires more fixes than originally thought. The work is expected to last through 2019.
It is listed as one of the most structurally deficient bridges in Illinois by the American Road & Transportation Builders Association.
Piecemeal funding patched together from state and federal grants to finance the $60 plus million project has contributed to the lengthy construction timeline.
The surface of the flyover will include lanes separating pedestrians and cyclists.
The lane separation will be consistent with the entire length of the 18-mile lakefront trail — a separate project that’s well underway and expected to be done by the end of 2018.