The Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) recently announced that work on the Jane Byrne Interchange in Chicago has been extended to a 2022 completion date, according to a report from the Chicago Tribune.
This change stretches the project duration three years longer than the original completion date set for 2019, bringing the project timeline to a total of eight years.
The Jane Byrne Interchange is the convergence of I-290 (Eisenhower Expressway), I-90 (Kennedy Expressway), I-94 (Dan Ryan Expressway) and Congress Parkway in downtown Chicago. The interchange sees some 400,000 vehicles per day pass through, and has been rated as one of the worst bottlenecks in the country.
IDOT engineers warn that the biggest impact to traffic is coming in the summer of 2020, when the ramp from the inbound Eisenhower Expressway to the northbound Kennedy Expressway, which sees 26,000 cars a day, will need to be closed.
Challenges and setbacks on the project have included working on three different interstates in such a constricted urban environment, as well as having to work around the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) Blue Line and work on multiple bridges. The project also has been affected by the moving up of the I-55/Lake Shore Drive Interchange rebuild.
The total cost of the Jane Byrne Interchange project is $600 million.
----------
Source: Chicago Tribune
