Those of us who drive in an around downtown Chicago recieved great news this week. The Illinois Department of Transportation (“IDOT”) announced that the Jane Byrne Interchange (where I-290 connects with I-90/94 downtown) that the majority of construction renovations will be completed by December 2022.
“We are actually scheduled to complete major work by December of this year,” said Eric Ray, IDOT District 1 area construction supervisor. “That includes the northbound and southbound lanes and also the Jackson and Adams Street bridges, work on Ida B. Wells and 290 and the ramps that connect them.”
This has been a long time waiting as construction began back in 2013. As I have writtin many times in the past, Chicago consistantly ranks as the one of the top most traffic congested cities in the U.S. and the world. A lot of that congestion is created by the bottleneck at 290 and 90/94 interchange. Parts of the interchange have been shut down over the last 9 years, creating larger and longer traffic jams. I am still not sure how much the completion of this project will help, but it is definitely a step in the right direction. There still needs to be improvements on highways outside of downtown that will hopefully ease the bottleneck coming in and out of the city. As I wrote a few years back, look for some of the federal infrastructure money that was passed last year to go to these road improvements.
If you or a loved one has been seriously injured in a Chicago traffic accident or Chicago truck accident, then call Chicago personal injury lawyer, Aaron J. Bryant, for a free legal consultation at 312-614-1076.