Tag Archives: circle interchange

Weekend A-Jenda: June 16th – 19th

Ray Stagich’s Forecast:
Friday – Sunny skies. High 82F. Winds NE at 10 to 15 mph.
Saturday – A few clouds. Highs in the mid 80s and lows in the mid 60s.
Sunday – Abundant sunshine. Highs in the low 90s and lows in the low 70s.

Click Here for Weekend Traffic Projects
Click Here for Weekend CTA Travel Alerts

PIQNIQ presented by 101 WKQX

Date: Saturday, June 18
Time: 12:00 p.m. – 11:00 p.m.
Location: Hollywood Casino Amphitheater

Two stages, 10 bands, and hours of live music brought to you by WLS-AM 890 sister station, 101 WKQX.

hero_AMP_01

For the full schedule, tickets and more information visit http://www.101wkqx.com/piqniq/.

 

PRIDWeekend

Date: Saturday, June 18 – Sunday, June 19
Time: 10:00 a.m. – 10:00 p.m.
Location: Northalsted

An amazingly entertaining weekend with performers such as Jordin Sparks, Danity Kane members Aubrey O’Day and Shannon Bex, and Daya. Then, the Pride Pet & Family Parade struts at 12:30 p.m. on Sunday.

The festival in Northalsted is not the only event, so head to this link to find more celebrations.

Traffic Alert: Halsted closed north of Belmont, up to Broadway

The Chicago Pride Parade is the following Sunday, June 26 at noon.

Taste of Randolph Street

Date: Friday, June 17 – Sunday, June 19
Time: 5:00 p.m. – 10: 00 p.m.
Location: West Loop, Chicago

TOR_LineUp_Daily504-768x768

A food-centric festival boasting some of the best cuisine in the city, along with world-class live entertainment and handcrafted merchant goods!

Traffic Alert: Randolph closed between Halsted and Racine from Friday through Sunday night.

Windy City LakeShake Festival

Date: Friday, June 17 – Sunday, June 19
Time: All Day
Location: Northerly Island, Chicago

From Time Out Chicago:

After a successful first year, the Windy City LakeShake Festival returns to Northerly Island for three days of country music. This year, Jason Aldean, Lady Antebellum, Tim McGraw and Brooks & Dunn headline a Nashville-rich bill. The lakefront hoedown also features Kacey Musgraves, Martina McBride, Travis Tritt and Thomas Rhett—dust off your cowboy hat and polish those boots. (Note: There are no single-day tickets available for this festival)

 

PrairieFest – Oswegoland Park District

Date: Friday, June 17 – Sunday, June 19
Time: All day, each day until 10:00 p.m.
Location: Oswego

Smash Mouth, Ethan Bell Band, Lucky Boys Confusion and many more acts. Click here for more information.
 

Other Events

Brew To Be Wild 06/17/2016 Chicago, IL
Custer Fair 06/18/2016 Evanston, IL
Concert by the Lake 06/18/2016 Fox Lake, IL
6 Corners BBQ Fest 06/18/2016 Chicago, IL
Green Music Festival 06/18/2016 Chicago, IL
Solstace Hop & Vine fest 06/18/2016 Schaumburg, IL
Concert in the Park, Antioch 06/16/2016 Antioch, IL
Concerts in the Park, Plainfield 06/16/2016 Plainfield, IL
Ravinia District Artisan Market 06/16/2016 Highland Park, IL
Concerts on the Green, Burr Ridge 06/17/2016 Willowbrook, IL
Cruise + Family Night Concerts 06/17/2016 Wheaton, IL
Naper Nights: Community Concert Series 06/17/2016 Naperville, IL
Sounds of Summer Concerts, Wheeling 06/17/2016 Wheeling, IL
Kids Concerts in the Park, Wheeling 06/18/2016 Wheeling, IL
Summer Sampler Concert Series, Deerfield 06/19/2016 Deerfield, IL
River Rhapsody Concert Series, Batavia 06/19/2016 Batavia, IL

Manteno Golf Cart Parade

Date: Friday, June 17
Time: 6:45 p.m.
Location: Manteno

From the Kankakee Daily Journal:Fleets of golf carts will cruise from Heritage Park at 6:45 p.m. to the Leo Hassett Center for Music in Manteno, where Time Is Everything will perform until 10 p.m. The village recommends riders decorate their carts for the parade.

 

Traffic and Travel

Portage Park: Six Corners Barbecue Fest – Milwaukee Ave at Irving Park Rd & Cicero Ave closed through Sunday at 8:00 p.m.
Wicker Park: Green Music Fest – Damen Ave closed down between North Avenue and Schiller until Sunday at 10:00 p.m.

Jane Byrne Interchange work from IDOT:  Starting at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday, June 15, the ramp from the inbound Kennedy (southbound I-90/94) to the inbound Eisenhower (eastbound I-290) will be closed between Jackson and Halsted streets until 5 a.m. Thursday, June 23.

A posted detour will direct traffic to continue on the outbound Dan Ryan (southbound I-90/94) to reenter the inbound expressway via the 18th Street interchange. After exiting at Roosevelt Road, motorists will turn left at Jefferson Street, right on Harrison Street and left on Wells Street to connect with Congress Parkway.

From travelmidwest.com: Thursday, June 16, one westbound lane on Illinois Route 390 between Park Boulevard and I-290 is scheduled to close at 9 p.m. to prepare for a traffic shift on the ramp connecting westbound Illinois Route 390 to westbound I-290. At 1 a.m. on Friday, June 17, a full ramp closure is scheduled and traffic will be detoured via the Meacham Road loop ramp to eastbound Illinois Route 390 and back to the I-290 Interchange where traffic will be able to exit to westbound I-290. All lanes are scheduled to reopen by 5 a.m. on Friday, June 17, ahead of rush hour traffic.
290 Interchange project

On the Reagan Tollway in Downers Grove: On Thursday, June 16, the center lane on the ramp will close at 9 a.m. and reopen later that day, before closing again at 9 a.m. on Friday, June 17, with the closure continuing for the majority of the weekend. The lane is scheduled to reopen by 7 a.m. on Monday, June 20.

Weekend CTA Travel Alerts

Trains Rerouted Downtown: Lake and Wabash Closed – Orange, Green, Pink and Brown Lines will be rerouted this weekend from 10:00 p.m. Friday through 4:00 a.m. Monday.
Orange & Brown Line Trains will operate as one route, between Kimball and Midway.
Green Line Trains will operate between Harlem and 63rd.
Pink Line Trains will run between 54th/Cermak & Downtown

The Addison Street on the CTA Blue Line will be closed this weekend beginning at 10:00 p.m. on Friday to 4:00 a.m. Monday.
A bus shuttle will operate between the Addison and Belmont stations.

#DumpThePumpDay: On Thursday, ditch the car and take the CTA, Metra or Pace. Take a picture and share on social with hashtags: #DTPChi or #DumpThePumpSweeps, to be automatically entered into a drawing to win great prizes.

Riders can enter multiple ‘dump the pump’ photos however rules allow only one raffle entry per rider no matter how many photos are entered. This is sponsored by the Regional Transportation Authority.

Major work to start March 7 on Jane Byrne Interchange; project to last 16 months

(CHICAGO) Drivers approaching the Jane Byrne Interchange — now one of the nation’s worst bottlenecks — will face a spaghetti bowl of detours and reduced lanes for more than a year after construction begins March 7 on a flyover bridge, the Sun-Times is reporting.

Needing a stiff dose of patience until at least the summer of 2016 will be:

— South Siders taking the Dan Ryan Expressway (Interstate 90/94) into the Loop;

— Folks traveling back and forth from west of the city to downtown on the Stevenson Expressway (I-55);

— Drivers switching from the inbound Ryan to the outbound Eisenhower Expressway (I-290).

They will soon face ramp lane or road lane reductions and even some detours during the next phase of the $475 million overhaul of the interchange — a connection point crossed by 400,000 drivers daily.

But by far, experts say, the biggest logjam will hit over four weekends sometime this summer or fall. That’s when workers will install beams of the long-awaited flyover that will connect the inbound Ryan with the outbound Eisenhower. The exact weekends have not yet been identified.

During the worst two of those weekends, all lanes of the Eisenhower on either side of the Ryan will be shut down, and 1-mile to nearly 2-mile sections of the Ryan approaching or leaving downtown will be limited to one lane in each direction, Illinois Department of Transportation officials say.

“It won’t be pretty,” said Tom Kaeser, a former senior traffic engineer for the Chicago Department of Transportation.

“I’m sure that IDOT and CDOT will publicize this a lot and urge everyone to avoid using these roadways, as they did during the Ohio-Ontario ramp removal work along the Kennedy” Expressway in June 2014.

“Anyone who is aware of these closures and still tries to drive through will have only themselves to blame if they get stuck in traffic,” Kaeser said.

IDOT is still working with the city to schedule those four weekends of work, IDOT spokeswoman Carson Quinn said. Chicago is buzzing with festivals in July, August and even September, when the Chicago Bears’ regular season starts.

Also hard hit may be fans of the White Sox and Bulls and Bears because their stadiums are close to the work zone.

Over the first two weekends of work, the inbound Ryan will be reduced to one lane, tentatively, from Canalport to Van Buren — or for about 15 blocks; the outbound Ryan will be narrowed to one lane from roughly Lake Street to Harrison — or for about eight blocks.

Those same two weekends, the outbound Eisenhower will be completely inaccessible via Congress Parkway, and inbound travelers will have to exit the Eisenhower before the Ryan, possibly around Ashland, Quinn said.

On the final two weekends, only outbound Eisenhower and outbound Ryan traffic will face closures or lane reductions.

The less severe changes that begin March 7 will stretch on “until summer 2016,” according to IDOT.

That means for about 16 months, South Side travelers heading from the Ryan into the Loop will hit ramp detour signs starting at Roosevelt. Drivers moving from the Stevenson to the Ryan, or vice versa, will deal with lane reductions on ramps and roadways.

The heavily traveled inbound Ryan connection with the Eisenhower will see drivers directed to a temporary road.

“Since we are shifting the inbound Dan Ryan lanes toward the median using a little tighter lanes, we will build a small runaround or connection to connect the outer lane of the inbound Ryan to the existing flyover, which [will continue] to be used until the new flyover is built,’’ Quinn said in an emailed statement.

“We are talking about a couple of hundred feet of roadway to complete the gap and allow traffic to exit safely.”

When the misery ends, the Jane Byrne Interchange flyover will replace the existing single-lane ramp from the inbound Ryan to the outbound Eisenhower with a milelong ramp, starting at Roosevelt, and a two-lane bridge.

Better yet, IDOT officials say, it should reduce traffic delays by at least 50 percent.

More information on the four-year project, including a live-stream of construction work, can be found at www.CircleInterchange.org.

–Sun-Times

© Copyright 2015 Sun-Times Media, LLC

Yearlong closures looming for Jane Byrne Flyover construction

(CHICAGO) Extensive closures and reroutes to the Jane Byrne Interchange are scheduled to go into effect on March 7 for construction projects that are slated to last more than a year.

The Jane Byrne Flyover project will bridge the inbound Interstate 90/94 Dan Ryan Expressway to the outbound I-290 Eisenhower Expressway, according to a statement from the Illinois Department of Transportation.

With work scheduled until the summer months of 2016, closures will include:

–the ramp from the inbound Dan Ryan to the inbound Congress Parkway, with detours posted from the Roosevelt exit;

–the right lane of the inbound Dan Ryan from the I-55 Stevenson Expressway ramp to Roosevelt;

–the ramp from Roosevelt to Congress Parkway, with detours posted on Roosevelt; and

–the ramp from Taylor Street to the inbound Dan Ryan, with detours posted on Jefferson Street and the Adams Street entrance ramp;

Additionally, both Stevenson ramps to the Dan Ryan will be reduced to one lane, and the ramp from the inbound Dan Ryan to the outbound Eisenhower will be shifted to a temporary roadway, officials said.

This summer and fall, some parts of the downtown expressway system will be temporarily shut down completely as crews place support beams, IDOT officials said.

Drivers are advised to add some extra time for their commutes until work is complete. But as part of a four-year, $475 million overhaul, the flyover is expected to help reduce congestion by 50 percent at one of the nation’s worst bottlenecks, which carries about 400,000 motorists every day, according to IDOT.

© Copyright 2015 Sun-Times Media, LLC