March 30--Come beach season, runners, cyclists and sunbathers making their way from Lincoln Park to the lakefront will have one less option with the temporary closure of the North Avenue pedestrian bridge.
The heavily used bridge over Lake Shore Drive will be closed for a rehabilitation project from April 11 until June 30, about a month after the Chicago Park District officially opens the beaches Memorial Day weekend. The deck and support beams will be replaced to extend the life of the bridge, but the arched top truss will remain in place, said Mike Claffey, spokesman for the Chicago Department of Transportation. There also will be lanes closed overnight on Lake Shore Drive to get the work done.
The pedestrian overpass is the fourth most popular access point to the lakefront after the Lake Shore Drive underpasses at Oak Street, Fullerton Avenue and Montrose Avenue, said Kyle Whitehead, campaign director for the Active Transportation Alliance, a nonprofit transportation advocacy group. More than 8,300 people, mainly pedestrians, used the bridge daily on the weekends and as many as 5,500 people were daily weekday users, according to alliance's report on lakefront trail usage in summer 2010.
With the bridge closed, how will people get to the lakefront? Running across Lake Shore Drive is out of the question. Instead, detour signs will direct pedestrians, cyclists and beachgoers to the nearest access point via the Lake Shore Drive underpass at LaSalle Drive. It's roughly a block south of the pedestrian bridge and near the exit and entrance ramps for cars.
Another option just south of LaSalle Drive is the underpass at North Avenue, another busy route to the lakefront. The underpass is used by an estimated 5,300 people daily on the weekends, according to the lakefront trail report.
Whitehead also suggested pedestrians go a little farther north and use the underpass at Fullerton Avenue, where the city added nearly 6 acres of parkland and separated biking and pedestrian trails as part of the shoreline restoration project.
It's not ideal for a major access point to be closed for a month into beach season, Whitehead said. "We know there's a number of people that rely on it to be able to access the lakefront," he said.
However, that doesn't mean the project isn't necessary, he said. "It's understandable they need to maintain it and make sure the infrastructure is sound and can support the number of people using it," Whitehead said.
Without the rehab work, the entire bridge built in 1940 would eventually need to be replaced, Claffey said. He said it has been 25 years since the last time major work was done on the bridge, which is 268 feet long, including the access ramps and stairs at both ends.
The $1 million project, funded by general obligation bonds, will lead to overnight lane closures on Lake Shore Drive from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. starting April 18, according to the city.
The project's first stage will begin at the center of the bridge, and two inside lanes in each direction will be closed for a total of four lanes of traffic shut down. Next, work will focus on the west end of the bridge, so two outside southbound lanes will be closed. The last phase will be on the east end of the bridge, resulting in the closure of two northbound outside lanes as well as the entrance ramp from LaSalle Drive. Traffic will be detoured via Clark Street to Fullerton Avenue. Each phase is expected to last about 20 days, Claffey said.
The pedestrian bridge closure comes at a time when the city is building other pedestrian bridges so residents can get to the lakefront on the South Side.
Lake Shore Drive is like a moat, making it difficult for pedestrians to access the lakefront, but the city is doing a good job of building bridges to make it more convenient, said Joseph Schwieterman, director of the Chaddick Institute for Metropolitan Development at DePaul University. "It's not a calm urban boulevard," he said. "It's a fast-moving expressway along the lake that makes accessing the lake more cumbersome."
The 35th Street pedestrian bridge is under construction and set to open this summer as a replacement to the old bridge that was not accessible to people with disabilities or bike friendly, Claffey said. Construction is scheduled to start later this year on a new pedestrian bridge at 41st Street, and plans are underway to replace the pedestrian bridge at 43rd Street, he said.
lvivanco@tribpub.com
