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Welcome to the Congress Parkway Bridge
Website!
This site has been created to facilitate public input and communicate information about the project and schedule.
We invite you to explore the site and provide your comments or travel
experiences regarding the project through our "Contact Us" section.
This site will be updated periodically as the project start date
approaches. In addition, IDOT will maintain the website throughout the
project duration and update the project information, suggested alternate
routes, ramp closure information, project publications, comment forms
and links to other area projects. IDOT appreciates your patience and
urges the motoring public to begin to take necessary steps like
alternate route planning, car pooling, flexible work schedules, and
public transportation to avoid traffic.
UPDATE--September, 2011
The Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) will begin work on
the second and final stage of the Congress Parkway Bridge. This stage
requires traffic to shift over three nights to the new inbound lanes
that were rebuilt during the first stage. Lane closures are anticipated
each night during the shift.
During the September 23-26 weekend, there will be designated hours of
closures for inbound and outbound Congress Parkway. Inbound Congress
Parkway’s far right lane between Canal and Wells streets will be closed
throughout the weekend during the following hours: Fri-Sat 10pm-7am,
Sat-Sun 10pm-9am, Sun-Mon 10pm-5am. Outbound Congress Parkway will
be fully closed during designated hours, with traffic detoured south on
Wells Street, west on Harrison Street, south on Des Plaines Street and
west on Roosevelt Road to reach the Dan Ryan Expressway (Interstate
90/94) and the outbound Eisenhower Expressway. The hours for the
outbound Congress Parkway closures will include: Fri-Sat 12am-6am,
Sat-Sun 12am-8am, Sun-Mon 12am-5am.
The work zone for the second stage will be in place, weather permitting,
the morning of Monday, September 24 by 5 a.m. The current configuration
of two lanes inbound and one lane outbound over the bridge will remain
for the duration of the project. The inbound Dan Ryan and Kennedy
expressway ramps to Congress Parkway will remain closed. So will the
ramps from northbound Franklin Avenue and southbound Wacker Drive to
westbound Congress Parkway.
The Chicago Department of Transportation is adjusting its work zone on
the Congress Parkway Streetscape project to accommodate the switch in
traffic to the new bridge.
The second stage of the bridge project involves removing the old
outbound Congress Parkway bridge deck and replacing the structural steel
underneath. Installation of the deck panels for the new bridge surface
is anticipated to begin in December. The tentative completion date for
the entire Congress Parkway bridge project is mid-May 2012. The $33
million project is made possible by $6.6 million in state funding
UPDATE--July, 2011 The Illinois Department of Transportation
(IDOT) anticipates a delay due to continued fabrication delays for the
steel deck panels. IDOT will continue to work on Congress Parkway Bridge
from Wells Street to Canal Street. The final construction of the steel
deck panels is scheduled for late July. Thus, the completion of Stage 1
construction will finish in late September. IDOT will be working
throughout the winter on Stage 2 with an anticipated opening of all
lanes inbound and outbound by May, 2012.
UPDATE--January, 2010
The Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) anticipates a delay in the reopening of the inbound section of the Congress Parkway Bridge. IDOT will continue to work on the bridge throughout the winter to make up for the delay. The existing configuration of two lanes inbound and one lane outbound will remain in place. IDOT urges drivers to continue to take alternate routes if possible to avoid traffic delays. The overall completion date remains on schedule for
Fall, 2011.
The following three major factors caused the delay:
- The crossover lanes required emergency repairs and pushed back the start of construction.
- The 22-day strike that occurred in July, halting all work done during that time.
- The existing floor beams on the bridge were found to be unlevel. This discovery required an adjustment to the design of the new bridge deck system that will be placed on top of the floor beams. This redesign caused an unavoidable delay in the fabrication of the components on the bridge’s steel deck.
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