After two months of heavy traffic, long commutes and big closures on the Kennedy Expressway, some relief is coming earlier than expected, particularly in the express lanes.
The overall construction project, expected to last through late 2025, has squeezed parts of the outbound Kennedy Expressway from Ohio Street to the Edens Expressway down to two lanes from four. It also closed the inbound express lanes, leaving them open only to outbound commuters, with no exit to O’Hare Airport available.
As it stands, the only exit on the express lanes is at the Edens Expressway at Foster Avenue, with the mid-gate entrances and exits closed. The Illinois Department of Transportation previously said that shift would be in place through July, but officials in an interview with NBC Chicago Wednesday told NBC 5 traffic reporter Kye Martin that timeline will be moved up by a month.
“Engineers say in June, not July, drivers will be able to exit the express lanes near Irving and get on I-90 to O’Hare.”
“We’re looking at doing an interim traffic stage change just for the northern third of the project,” Jon Schumacher, IDOT District 1 Bureau Chief of Construction said.
Schumacher also said the rest of the project remains on track, with two-thirds of the joint repairs complete, and half of the bridge overlays.
The new traffic pattern could loosen up congestion for both the outbound local and express lanes. Still, the construction has impacted both the inbound and outbound commutes for many drivers.
“It’s just a 7-mile stretch, but so crucial a corridor,” Martin said earlier this year. “It’s a domino effect. We took away the express lanes from the inbound side and that hurt the commute into the Loop even though the work is on the outbound side.”
The project, originally billed at $150 million, is currently $19 million over budget, IDOT said last earlier this year, with officials attributing the extra costs to additional patching and inner concrete wiring challenges.
According IDOT, the work is meant to increase safety, reduce maintenance costs and improve traffic flow. The full scope of the work is expected to last through the end of 2025, until at least Thanksgiving, officials said.
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