For drivers trying to reach downtown via the Kennedy Expressway, the upcoming Democratic National Convention will bring good news and bad news.
The expressway will provide a direct route by car from O’Hare International Airport to downtown just as tens of thousands visitors descend on Chicago for the convention. But the highway is in the second of a three-year construction project that has left lanes closed and traffic snarled. This year, construction has shut down the center, reversible express lanes, and left some regular lanes closed at various times.
The express lanes will remain closed to general traffic during the DNC, Illinois Department of Transportation spokeswoman Maria Castaneda said. The access system that allows the flow of traffic to be reversed is being rehabilitated, and will not be finished before the convention.
But the center lanes could be used for motorcades and law enforcement and public safety vehicles, according to the Secret Service. Such use won’t delay the reopening of the lanes to the general public, Secret Service spokesman Joe Biesk said. They were initially expected to reopen when the second phase of Kennedy construction wraps up in the fall.
In the meantime, at least four lanes of traffic are open in both directions for the general public, Castaneda said. A section that had been closed downtown for work on the large underpass near Hubbard Street reopened in early July, and overnight road closures will be paused during the convention unless there is an emergency, she said.
Drivers might still see construction barrels along the side of some lanes and blocking access to the express lanes, though, Castaneda said. Some remaining closures continue to affect feeder lanes and a downtown exit ramp.
“IDOT always plans and coordinates projects with communities to have the least possible impact when lane closures are required,” the agency has previously said in a statement. “The DNC in Chicago will be no different. The department is working with the city evaluating needs and will coordinate its construction projects as much as possible.”
The timeline for the overall construction project has not changed, IDOT said.
The $150 million Kennedy project, paid through the state’s capital program, is rehabbing 7.5 miles of the 10-lane highway from the I-94 split south to downtown. It includes work on 36 bridges and the highway’s reversible express lane access system, the current version of which was installed in 1996. It also includes replacing overhead signs, upgrading lighting, paving and painting, and painting and installing new lighting at the Hubbard underpass between Ohio and Lake streets.
The first phase of work took place last year in the inbound, or southbound, lanes, with two closed at a time between March and December and the express lanes open only heading toward downtown.
This year work moved to the express lanes, and in spring will move to the outbound, or northbound lanes. Two will be closed at a time, and the express lanes will be open only heading north from downtown.
This summer, even as the express lanes remain closed, the city’s transportation agencies and companies are preparing to move the influx of visitors to O’Hare and into the city. Chicago-based United Airlines has added 118 flights to and from Chicago this month. Metra plans to run hourly shuttle trains between O’Hare and downtown.
CTA President Dorval Carter has said the transit agency could add additional trains to and from O’Hare and Midway airports during peak travel times. Convention delegates will get virtual Ventra cards preloaded with a CTA one-day pass, paid for by the DNC host committee, that they can use to ride trains when they arrive at either of the city’s two airports, CTA has said.
