Take a train. Or if you have to drive, take an alternative route.
But whatever you do, avoid the damaged downtown section of the Kennedy Expressway as well as surrounding highways near the Loop early Thursday.
Officials were offering that advice after a construction accident tore up two lanes of the outbound Kennedy near Adams Street at midday Wednesday. That evening’s rush went better than expected because of traffic alerts that sent many drivers around the problem area, which was above a network of tunnels that in 1992 flooded parts of downtown Chicago.
On Thursday, the CTA will add extra trains on the Red, Blue and Green Lines at least through the morning rush period to accommodate commuters who switch from driving to mass transit. Numerous CTA bus routes also serve the downtown.
Metra does not have any surplus trains to press into service. But ridership is down about 5 percent this year on the commuter railroad so seats should not be difficult to find, particularly toward the end of rush periods, officials said.
A midday traffic bulletin issued on Wednesday apparently did the trick for many drivers. By the start of the evening rush period, thousands already had scurried to avoid the Kennedy, the Dan Ryan and Eisenhower Expressways — the busiest roads in Illinois that feed into the “Spaghetti Bowl” ramps west of the Loop.
Through the night, crews poured quick-setting concrete on the Kennedy rushing to finish the job.
A preliminary investigation found that workers from Lorig Construction were pumping concrete into the abandoned freight tunnel about noon and caused the Kennedy roadway above to erupt from the pressure, according to the Illinois Department of Transportation.
The tunnel is an extension of the more than century-old subterranean freight system that flooded the downtown area in 1992 when a piling was driven into the Chicago River bottom, causing the evacuation of more than 50 damaged buildings. Originally, the tunnels were used to deliver coal, remove ash or transport other cargo on electric railcar-like trucks.
Wednesday’s accident prompted IDOT to shut down two Kennedy lanes as well as connecting ramps on the nearby expressways where average daily traffic volumes exceed 325,000 vehicles.
Bill Murray of Hoffman Estates said the continuing lane closures won’t affect his commute to downtown on Thursday. “I just avoid that drive at all costs anyway,” he said.
