4/15/04
Motorists who travel the Dan Ryan Expressway and CTA Red Line customers will experience minimal impact while work is underway on the Chicago Transit Authority's $282.6 million Red Line rehabilitation project.
CTA construction plans call for the periodic use of the left lane and shoulder of the expressway in both directions, and involve a combination of lane shifts, temporary ramp closures and by-pass tracks at eight work zones between Cermak Road and 95th Street. The work schedule is subject to change due to weather or unforeseen issues. Traffic impact for the week of April 18 - 25 will be:
LANE SHIFTS:Lane shifts are scheduled to begin southbound between 42nd Place and 45th Place on Monday, April 19 and northbound in the same location beginning Wednesday, April 21 and continuing through early July.
Lane shifts continue northbound and southbound between 84th and 88th Streets and are expected to last until early May.
Lane shifts continue northbound between 67th and 71st Streets until the first week of June. The southbound lane shifts continue until the second week of June.
TEMPORARY RAMP CLOSURES:The northbound 87th Street entrance ramp is temporarily closed until early May.
The northbound 71st Street entrance ramp is temporarily closed until mid-June.
NIGHT-TIME ONLY LANE CLOSURES:CTA continues smoothing and paving the outside shoulder of the Dan Ryan Expressway in preparation for upcoming lane shifts.
The northbound and southbound right driving lane of the expressway is temporarily closed from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. each night between 42nd Place and 45th Place from now through Wednesday, April 21.
The northbound left driving lane will be closed intermittently from 8 p.m. until5 a.m. at 87th Street until mid-May and at 69th Street until early June.
Nighttime only closures will continue intermittently through the fall.
BY-PASS TRACKS IN SERVICE:CTA trains will begin using the second set of by-pass tracks beginning the weekend of April 16 between 67th and 71st Streets.
By-pass tracks are already in place between 87th and 84th Streets. Customers will continue to board trains at their normal station locations.
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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