3/18/04
Commuters who travel the Dan Ryan Expressway or the CTA Red Line during the Chicago Transit Authority's $282.6 million Red Line rehabilitation project will experience minimal impact while work is underway.
CTA construction plans call for the use of the left lane and shoulder of the Expressway in both directions and involve a combination of lane shifts, ramp closures and by-pass tracks at eight work zones between Cermak Road and 95th Street.
Traffic impact for the week of March 21 ? 28 will be:
LANE SHIFTS:The first lane shifts are scheduled to begin between 88th Street and 84th Street, southbound on March 20 and northbound on March 24 and will last approximately seven to nine weeks.
TEMPORARY RAMP CLOSURE:On Sunday, March 21, the northbound 87th Street ramp is scheduled to be temporarily closed. The ramp will remain closed for eight to ten weeks.
NIGHT-TIME ONLY LANE CLOSURES:Because the CTA will be using the inside shoulders during construction, it is preparing the outside shoulders to handle traffic. This will allow Dan Ryan motorists to have access to the same number of driving lanes normally assigned to traffic while CTA work is underway.
The northbound right driving lane of the expressway will be temporarily closed from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. each night from Thursday, March 18 through Tuesday, March 23. Nighttime only closures will continue intermittently through the month of March.
PROJECT SUMMARY:The Dan Ryan branch of the Red Line runs down the middle of the Dan Ryan Expressway and includes nine stations from Cermak - Chinatown to 95th/Dan Ryan. When the rehabilitation project concludes in winter 2006, the CTA will have improved signal, track, communications and power substation systems, renovated seven Red Line stations from Sox-35th to 87th Street and rehabilitated the bus bridges at 69th and 95th Streets.
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