Aug. 21--State transportation officials are urging drivers to stay clear of the Byrne Interchange in Chicago this weekend and next as ramps and lanes are closed for a major phase of overhaul work.
Over the next two weekends, Congress Parkway under the Old Post Office will be closed, and traffic on the Kennedy and Dan Ryan expressways will be reduced to one lane as crews install large steel beams for a flyover ramp from the inbound Dan Ryan to the outbound Eisenhower.
During a weekend at the end of September and another in the middle of October, traffic on the inbound Kennedy and both directions on the Eisenhower will be down to one lane.
On all four weekends, traffic will be completely stopped for 15 minutes at a time, according to the Illinois Department of Transportation.
The lanes are being closed so cranes can swing into place bridge girders that will support the deck of a new two-lane elevated bridge connecting the inbound Ryan to the outbound Eisenhower, IDOT said. The beams, weighing a total of more than 1 million pounds, will be set on the section of the bridge that arches over the Ryan, Kennedy and Eisenhower.
A complicating factor is that the curved shape of the beams makes them unstable until at least two of the girders, which are up to 189 feet long and 7 1/2 feet tall, are connected and locked down onto vertical concrete piers, officials have said.
The ramp from the inbound Kennedy to the inbound Congress will be closed through August so it can be used to store equipment needs for the work scheduled over the weekends of Aug. 21 and Aug. 28.
"There's not a lot of space out there," said IDOT project engineer Tony Quigley.
The work on the Byrne Interchange is aimed at easing congestion and reducing crashes at one of the worst traffic choke points in the nation where the Ryan, Eisenhower, Kennedy and Congress meet. The interchange is used by roughly 400,000 vehicles each weekday, IDOT said.
The cost of the Byrne reconstruction, which will take until 2019, has climbed to almost $600 million from initial IDOT estimates of $375 million in 2012, before design and engineering were completed, officials acknowledged.
Here are the details of the four weekend closings:
The weekends of Aug. 21 and Aug. 28:
--Inbound Congress Parkway (eastbound I-290) at the Byrne Interchange will close at 10 p.m. both Fridays. Traffic can still access the I-90/94 exit ramps. A detour will direct traffic to the outbound Dan Ryan's Roosevelt Road exit, Jefferson Street, Harrison Street and Wells Street to connect with Congress Parkway.
--Outbound Eisenhower (I-290) at the Byrne Interchange will close by 10 p.m. both Fridays. Traffic can still access the I-90/94 exit ramps. A detour will direct traffic to Wells Street, Harrison Street, Jefferson Street, Van Buren Street and Ashland Avenue to connect with the Eisenhower. Lower Wacker Drive also will follow this same detour.
--Both directions of the Kennedy and Dan Ryan (I-90/94) between Ohio Street and 18th Street will be reduced to one lane at 8 p.m. Saturday, with all lanes closed for 15-minute intervals between 10 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. Sunday. All lanes on the Kennedy and Dan Ryan will be reopened by 10 a.m. Sunday.
A recommended detour will direct traffic in both directions to the outbound Eisenhower's Ashland Avenue exit and entrance ramps to access the Kennedy and Dan Ryan again from the inbound Eisenhower.
--All lanes on Congress Parkway will reopen, and the previous traffic configuration will be restored by 5 a.m. Monday.
The weekends of Sept. 25 and Oct. 16:
--The westbound Eisenhower at the Byrne Interchange will close at 10 p.m. both Fridays and reopen by 5 a.m. Mondays. Vehicles can still access ramps to the Dan Ryan and Kennedy expressways.
--The eastbound Kennedy between the Ohio feeder and the Eisenhower will shrink to one lane in both directions as of 8 p.m. Saturdays and return to normal by 8 a.m. Sundays. All lanes will be closed for 15-minute intervals between 10 p.m. Saturdays and 7 a.m. Sundays.
IDOT said all closures depend on the weather.
Chicago Tribune's Jon Hilkevitch contributed.
