Chicago drivers can add another construction project to the list of congestion-causing roadwork around the city: repaving part of DuSable Lake Shore Drive.
The city is repaving the lakefront road between Lawrence Avenue and LaSalle Drive and repairing the viaduct over Montrose Avenue, and that means lane and exit ramp closures. Work is taking place along the entire 4-mile stretch in the northbound lanes, and southbound from Lawrence to Irving Park Road.
The project is expected to be finished in mid-June. Until then, it includes work in the evenings, overnight and nonpeak daytime hours. All southbound lanes are scheduled to be open during morning rush hour, and all northbound lanes will be opening during afternoon rush hour.
Work began in mid-April, and drivers have already experienced overnight closures and lower speed limits. From Sunday through Thursday, they can expect the northbound lanes to be reduced to one lane overnight along various parts of the stretch between LaSalle Drive and Lawrence Avenue, and, on some nights, exit and entrance ramps will close. The speed limit will be lowered to 35 mph.
Closures each night during that time will begin at 8 p.m., and lanes will reopen by 10 a.m.
Work on DuSable Lake Shore Drive comes as, farther west, a three-year rehab of the Kennedy Expressway is underway. That $150 million project is taking place along a 7.5-mile stretch from the split at I-94 south to Ohio Street, and at a massive underpass downtown.
This year, work is taking place on the inbound, or southbound, lanes. Two regular inbound lanes are closed at a time, and the reversible express lanes in the center of the highway are open in the inbound direction at all times.
Beginning May 15, weather permitting, the exit to leave the express lanes at Diversey Avenue will be closed for about eight weeks, as bridge work gets underway. That means drivers heading inbound will not be able to exit the express lanes until Ohio Street, where the lanes end.
Work on the inbound lanes is scheduled to end in the fall, when all lanes and ramps will reopen and the express lanes will resume reversible operations. Work is then scheduled to shift to the express lanes in the next construction season, followed by the outbound, or northbound, lanes in 2025.
A specific list of upcoming closures on DuSable Lake Shore Drive is available on the Chicago Department of Transportation website. The department encouraged drivers to allow extra time on the road, or to take alternate routes or use public transportation.
