11/30/07
Motorists Should Expect Congestion Due to Weekend Lane Closures on Kennedy
Rail service between the Jefferson Park and Cumberland Blue Line stations will be temporarily suspended from 9 p.m. Friday, November 30 to 3 a.m. Monday, December 3 in order to replace deteriorated rail ties, tie plates and spikes. Bus shuttles will operate as a substitute for rail service between the Jefferson Park, Harlem and Cumberland stations. Extra travel time is advisable.
In addition, to help speed work, the inner most westbound lane of traffic will be closed on the Kennedy Expressway from Jefferson Park to Cumberland from 10 p.m. Friday night until 8 a.m. Sunday morning. On recent weekends, lane closures have occurred overnight, but this weekend the closure will continue all day Saturday, December 1 and into Sunday morning.
From midnight Friday to 6 a.m. Saturday and again from midnight Saturday to 8 a.m. Sunday, two inbound lanes will be closed to traffic.
Motorists should expect additional traffic congestion throughout the area.
The work from Jefferson Park to Harlem will be completed by the end of this year and eliminate more than 25,000 feet of slow zones. The work is part of an aggressive plan to eliminate slow zones on the O'Hare branch of the Blue Line and redesign the tracks to allow trains to reach speeds above 60 mph.
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