The third and final phase of the Kennedy Expressway Rehabilitation Project will begin next week and continue through the end of 2025, the Illinois Department of Transportation announced Tuesday.
Phase three of the project will include structural rehabilitation for 19 bridges and pavement patching throughout the 7.5-mile corridor from the I-94 split south to downtown. New signs and upgraded LED lights will also be added throughout the corridor.
Beginning next Tuesday, March 18, until late June, two outbound left lanes will be closed from Division Street to Kostner Avenue, which means that outbound reversible lane users must exit onto the Edens Expressway.
“Once motorists are in the reversible lanes, they are going to exit onto the Edens with the first exit being Foster Avenue,” Jonathan Schumacher, bureau chief of construction for IDOT, said.
Additionally, drivers going to O’Hare International Airport from downtown Chicago must stay in the mainline Kennedy lanes during this phase. This configuration is expected to last until mid-July.
Preparation to resume work on the Kennedy Expressway is beginning this week. As part of that preparation, drivers should expect various overnight ramp and lane closures on the outbound Kennedy and the reversible lanes, between Ohio Street and Montrose Avenue, from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m., according to IDOT.
July through late fall, there will be two to three outbound lanes closed on the right-hand side from Division to the north end of the project, IDOT officials said. At that point, outbound traffic in the reversible lanes will be able to exit back to the Kennedy or the Edens. Near the end of the rehabilitation project, there will be some pavement patching work at the north end near the junction of the Kennedy impedance.
Drivers can also expect ramp closures throughout the project’s final phase; IDOT said it will send out announcements on those closer to when they happen.
IDOT officials said the overall cost of the construction project has increased from the original estimate of $150 million to $169 million because of extra work being added for pavement patching and various bridge deck repairs that were done in the past few years.
Estimates put the cost of construction so far on the inbound Kennedy, express lanes and the system that allows the express lanes to reverse direction at some $99.5 million, according to documents obtained by the Tribune through an open records request. That includes estimates of work performed by contractors Dunnet Bay Construction Co., Martam Construction and John Burns Construction.
The update comes after express lanes reopened in January, one month behind when they were initially planned to reopen due to technical challenges with the gate system that controls the express lanes.
Despite challenges with the second phase, IDOT expressed confidence in its ability to complete the third phase of the Kennedy project on time since work on the reversible lanes is complete, IDOT said. The agency also noted that bridge repairs and pavement patching is a process they are more familiar with and complete routinely.
The purpose of the project is to rehab 7.5 miles of the 10-lane highway from the I-94 split south to downtown. The project includes work on 36 bridges and the express lanes, replacing overhead signs, upgrading lighting, paving and painting. It also includes painting and installing new lighting at the Hubbard underpass between Ohio and Lake streets downtown.
Chicago Tribune’s Sarah Freishtat contributed.
