Kennedy Expressway Turns 50
CHICAGO (WBBM) - A Chicago staple that we have a love/hate relationship with is celebrating its 50th birthday today. The Kennedy Expressway.
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Go ahead. Hum a few bars of "Happy Birthday to you" as you roll along the Kennedy.
It was on this day in 1960 that the ribbon was cut on…what was then called…the Northwest Expressway. Among those taking part in the ribbon-cutting were the first Mayor Daley--Richard J.Daley--Governor William Stratton and the Cook County Board President who would later have an expressway named for him, Dan Ryan.
The expressway was re-named for President Kennedy a week after he was assassinated in 1963.
The Kennedy expressway cost $232 million dollars to build.
