Weather postpones start of Jane Byrne Interchange lane closings

Driving headaches will begin next week for northbound motorists heading from the Dan Ryan to the Eisenhower Expressway.

Beginning late Thursday, March 12, the two lanes that funnel drivers onto the single-lane ramp that connects the Dan Ryan to the Eisenhower will be reduced to one lane. The lane reduction will be in place through late summer of 2016 and is necessary for crews to complete an entirely new connector that will be expanded to two lanes and span the spaghetti-bowl interchange.

That lane closure had originally been slated to begin this weekend, but was delayed because of weather.

“People should take mass transit and leave early,” said IDOT engineer Tony Quigley. “It’s difficult to say how big the impact will be.”

About 35,000 drivers a day use the ramp connecting northbound Dan Ryan motorists to the outbound Eisenhower.

In addition, access to Congress Parkway from the Dan Ryan will close Thursday night and remain closed until the late summer of 2016.

On-ramps to the Dan Ryan at Taylor and Roosevelt will also be closed Wednesday morning and remain closed through the duration of the project.

The three northbound and three southbound lanes of I-90/94 that act as a main artery through the city will remain open. They will be affected only on four weekends between Labor Day and Thanksgiving, when lanes will be reduced for overnight construction work.

IDOT officials held a news conference Thursday morning to discuss the upcoming closures, which are part of a $475 million overhaul of the Jane Byrne Interchange that is scheduled for completion in 2018.

The project as a whole aims to reduce interchange congestion by half. About 400,000 cars travel through the interchange evert day.