Kennedy Expressway construction work to resume next week, with outbound lane closures coming
The third and final phase of the Kennedy Expressway rehabilitation project will begin next week, with crews beginning work to repair bridges and pavement in the outbound lanes.
Beginning on March 18, the Illinois Department of Transportation will begin repairing 19 bridges, repatching pavement, and replacing overhead signs and LED lights in the outbound lanes of the Kennedy Expressway.
That means, starting on March 18, lanes will begin closing on the outbound Kennedy between Division Street and the split between the Kennedy and Edens expressways near Montrose Avenue.
"Yeah, that's kind of hard to take," said driver Ed Wallace. "They really have to come up with an alternative method."
At least two outbound lanes will be open along the Kennedy throughout the project, which is expected to be completed by the end of 2025. In addition, the reversible express lanes will be open outbound throughout the year, although for part of the project, drivers in the reversible express lanes will not be able to exit towards O'Hare International Airport.
From March 18 through late June, two left local lanes will be closed between Division Street and Kostner Avenue. During that time, the reversible express lanes will exit onto the outbound Edens Expressway at Foster, meaning drivers headed to O'Hare must stay in the local lanes, and should not use the reversible express lanes, otherwise they won't be able to exit until they join the Edens Expressway, which does not head to O'Hare.
Starting in July, and continuing through the end of the third phase of the project, two right local lanes will be closed between Division Street and the Edens/Kenedy split. At the same time, the reversible express lanes will once again be able to exit toward O'Hare starting in July.
There will be 19 outbound ramp closures throughout the entire third phase of the Kennedy Expressway project, with durations varying for each ramp. IDOT officials said they will announce specific ramp closure and reopening dates in advance of each specific closure.
Drivers like I.J. Singh, who runs a car service, were not exactly pleased to hear about another year of construction on the Kennedy.
Singh said the project, which initially had a targeted budget of $150 million that has ballooned to $169 million, has traumatized him over the past two years.
"It's going to be worse than last two years, because there's only two lanes going toward west, and it's gonna be bad. It's worse than last two years," he said.
After the completion of the second phase of the project last year was delayed by several weeks, with little explanation from IDOT as to why it was late or when it would be finished, bureau chief of construction Jon Schumacher said the agency plans to communicate more this year about progress on the project.
"You could always communicate more, and I think you're going to see that this year, and that's how we're going to go about trying to rebuild the trust. There's almost over-communicating, and detailing to the public what work's gonna be going on," Schumacher said.
The second phase of the Kennedy Expressway project, which focused on patching the reversible express lanes, and installing new signs and lights along the express lanes, was delayed several weeks due to unexpected complications with the software controlling the reversible lanes.
IDOT officials said they're confident the third phase of the Kennedy Expressway work will be completed on time, since the work on other reversible lanes is complete, and the remaining work is focused on bridge repairs and pavement patching, which is more common work for their contractors.
