Both bridges on Congress Parkway over the Chicago River will be partially open to traffic Saturday for the first time in two years as a $33 million rehabilitation project creeps toward completion in late May, the Illinois Department of Transportation said Friday.
The temporary lane configuration on the bridges is less than what officials previously announced because of ongoing street beautification work on Congress Parkway between Wells Street and Michigan Avenue, officials said.
The change will result in the continuation of only one outbound lane from downtown being open until completion of the bridge project, instead of the two lanes open outbound that were planned starting this week, officials said.
The inconvenience to drivers using the bridge to access the Eisenhower, Kennedy and Dan Ryan expressways is the consequence of the controversial decision by the city of Chicago and the state to conduct the Congress bridge and streetscape projects simultaneously, along with the $300 million reconstruction of Upper and Lower Wacker Drive between Randolph Street and Congress.
When the rebuilt north bridge on Congress is opened to traffic at about 10 a.m. Saturday, it will handle only one lane of outbound traffic, said IDOT spokesman Guy Tridgell. The south bridge will accommodate two lanes of inbound traffic.
The Wacker overhaul is on schedule for completion by the end of the year, officials said. That’s when the reconfigured Wacker/Congress Parkway interchange will also open.
Twitter @jhilkevitch
