City announces traffic plans ahead of Chicago's first-ever NASCAR street race
CHICAGO (CBS)-- Chicago's NASCAR street race is approaching and the city announced plans to navigate traffic during the first-ever event.
NASCAR announced plans for the city's first-ever street race last summer. The race will be held in Grant Park on July 2, 2023. It will be preceded by an International Motor Sports Association race on July 1, 2023.
CBS 2 drove the 12-turn, 2.2 mile course where top NASCAR drivers will weave through the park on closed-off streets lined with grandstands. NASCAR hopes it too will be filled with thousands of fans.
"One of the big initiatives is drive tourism to the City of Chicago," said Julie Giese, Chicago Street Race president. "Looking at our sales currently, we have representation from 48 states in 12 different countries. With obviously 80-some days left to go, we anticipate those numbers just to continue to grow."
But change starts weeks before the race. The city is also preparing drivers to get comfortable with a potential for a traffic mess which will include road closures and parking restrictions.
We have learned that the closures will last more than a month – not just a couple of weeks.
Thus, while Chicago rush hour is always a challenge, throw in the downtown NASCAR race, and it could be one of the biggest traffic challenges that some who drive and work downtown have ever experienced.
That includes delivery driver Lennon McKinney.
"I guess it's something new they're trying, but I'm still trying to figure out how this is going to even work," McKinney said.
City officials think they have figured it out – now announcing parking restrictions and street closures will begin June 2, and last until July 15.
On Monday, representatives from the Office of Emergency Management, Chicago Department of Transportation, Chicago Park District and NASCAR released the scheduled street closures:
- Sunday, June 25 – Beginning at 12:01 a.m. Closure of Jackson Drive between Michigan Avenue and Columbus Drive and closure of Columbus Drive between Jackson Drive and Roosevelt Road.
- Monday, June 26 – Beginning at 6 a.m. Closure of Congress Plaza Drive and lane closures on eastbound Roosevelt Road between Columbus Drive and DuSable Lake Shore Drive.
- Tuesday, June 27 – Beginning at 6 a.m. Curb lane closure on southbound DuSable Lake Shore Drive between Balbo Drive and Roosevelt Road for track barrier installation.
- Wednesday, June 28 – Beginning at 10 p.m. Curb lane closure on southbound DuSable Lake Shore Drive between Balbo Drive and Roosevelt Road for track barrier installation.
- Thursday, June 29 – Beginning at 8 p.m. Closure of northbound Michigan Avenue between Balbo Drive and Jackson Drive and traffic lane closure of southbound Michigan Avenue between Balbo Drive and Jackson Drive.
- Thursday, June 29 – Beginning at 10 p.m. Closure of southbound DuSable Lake Shore Drive between Monroe Drive and McFetridge Road and closure of Roosevelt Road between Columbus Drive and DuSable Lake Shore Drive.
- Friday, June 30 – Beginning at 5 p.m. Closure of southbound Michigan Avenue between Balbo Drive and Jackson Drive.
The start/finish line and pit road for the race will be along Columbus Drive at Buckingham Fountain, with the race course including portions of Columbus Drive, Balbo Drive, DuSable Lake Shore Drive, Roosevelt Road, Michigan Avenue, Congress Plaza Drive, and Jackson Drive, taking drivers through Grant Park, and within blocks of Soldier Field, which hosted the only other NASCAR race in Chicago in 1956.
Roadwork is already underway to get the streets race ready. You'll see crews out on Columbus Drive and Roosevelt, by Jackson and Balbo Drive.
City leaders said no roadwork will be required on DuSable Lake Shore Drive.
One the race is over, it will take weeks to break down. You won't see roads and sidewalks fully open again until July 15.
How will all this impact McKinney's life?
"It's going to make a long day. Now I have to walk from probably Wabash over," he said. "I'm going to be doing a lot of walking."
The walking will go on for six weeks.
When the city announced last summer that NASCAR would be racing Chicago's downtown streets last summer, NASCAR officials pledged to make it as easy on commuters as possible.
"It's just making sure that we have that window as tight as possible, and that we able to leave the streets open as long as possible, and then reopen them, and that's something we're working on right now," Chicago Street Race president Julie Giese said in February.
NASCAR officials have predicted the two-day event will generate more than $113 million in new spending. But some aldermen are skeptical.
On Wednesday, the city will hold a virtual community engagement meeting, and then continue to reach out to businesses and residents through May and June.
Meanwhile, tickets for the event are on sale. Fans can head to NASCARChicago.com to get more information.