Slow, frustrating commute on first day of Phase 2 of Kennedy Expressway reconstruction
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Traffic was crawling along the Kennedy Expressway Tuesday afternoon – the first day of the second phase of a three-year $150 million project to rehab the expressway, and thus, the first day of commuting with the express lanes closed.
The overhaul had drivers either looking for an alternate way around, or just sitting like they were in a parking lot. Drivers who hopped on the outbound Kennedy found it did not even matter if they changed lanes – no matter what they did, getting out of downtown was not simple.
"I've been doing everything I can to avoid it," said Jared Scheuer.
Scheuer is doing much the same as 275,000 people who use the Kennedy daily. He said he has not yet found a new route.
Scheuer will have until the full to figure out that route. The express lanes will remain shut down between the Edens Expressway junction and Ohio Street through the fall.
Neither inbound nor outbound traffic may use the lanes.
Afterward, work continues in all outbound lanes. The full project will not be over until the fall of 2025.
"I just feel like it's always a mess," said Janay Joyce. "So you just have to like buckle up, buttercup - and it's going to be even worse for a while."
It is an overhaul not seen on the Kennedy in 30 years. Another reconstruction project was completed in phases from 1992 until 1994.
Even when that earlier project was complete, folks were still crawling. On Oct. 17, 1994, CBS 2's Rob Stafford reported the commute times on the Kennedy went up from 50 to 60 minutes during construction to 60 to 70 minutes afterward.
This was chalked up at the time to more drivers taking the Kennedy again after they had been going for the prior couple of years using alternate routes or even taking the train.
Thirty years later, there is a long way to go before anyone is going to be discussing traffic patterns after the current reconstruction project is over. But there is always a wish that the project will wrap up before schedule.
"It's a good thing, but it comes at a cost," said Joyce, "road rages and expletives."
It happens that last year, Phase One of the current Kennedy Expressway rehabilitation project did wrap up early – so it is possible.