Kennedy Expressway construction project completed one month ahead of schedule
After nearly three years of lane closures and major traffic delays, the Kennedy Expressway construction project has been completed ahead of schedule.
All lanes and ramps have reopened one month ahead of schedule, with the ramps for Ontario and Wilson reopening Friday morning. The project originally was set to be completed close to Thanksgiving.
More than 275,000 drivers use the Kennedy Expressway every day.
"To every Illinoisan and every out-of-town visitor who endured the traffic while we made this crucial progress for the state, thank you. At a time of historic division in our politics, there is one idea that we can all rally around, and that's traffic sucks," Gov. JB Pritzker said as he celebrated the Kennedy Expressway rehab's completion.
The Kennedy Expressway Bridge Rehabilitation Project carried out in three phases over the past three years, and led to the rehabbing of 36 bridges from Ohio Street to the Interstate 90/94 split.
"I want to start by thanking the men and women of organized labor who put their shovels in the ground and shoulders to the wheel to get this project done early," Pritzker said. "We'll have safer roads. We'll have faster commutes in the long run as a result of this."
In addition to the bridge repairs, new overhead signage was put in place, along with new landscaping and modern LED lights. Pavement patching and painting was also part of the plan. The gates controlling the reversible express lanes also were modernized.
"We had the potholes, we had bridges that hadn't been touched in decades, the express lanes," Illinois Department of Transportation Secretary Gia Biagi said. "The express lanes had long exceeded their life span. So, at long last, all of that is in the rearview mirror."
The project was originally estimated to cost $150 million, but later ballooned to $169 million. A final cost figure isn't available as of Friday.
Approximately 90% of the funding for the project came from the federal government, with 10% coming from the state for pavement patching.
The last time deteriorating bridges along the Kennedy were renovated was 2012.