Summer famously means construction season in Chicago, and with that in mind, some changes could be coming for commuters.

Portions of the Kennedy Expressway will under a new traffic pattern as the yearslong reconstruction project on the expressway continues. Meanwhile, the Chicago Avenue Bridge over the Chicago River and the adjacent Halsted Street Viaduct will be disrupted for a reconstruction project that will go on for more than a year.

Signs and barricades went up on Monday for the latter project. A stretch of Halsted Street heading south from Goose Island into the River West community is closed, and won't be reopening for quite a while.

Chicago Department of Transportation leaders said implementation of one major construction project impacted another. Halsted Street and Chicago Avenue is the permanent site for Chicago's Bally's casino, which is now under construction in a $1.7 billion project.

"With the construction of the Bally's casino underway, and they continued growth and development in this area, this has become a very busy and dynamic corridor in the city," said acting CDOT Commissioner Craig Turner.

CDOT said the bridge that now carries Chicago Avenue from the Near North Side to River West is to be replaced with a permanent tie-arch bridge.

Road closures and detours during the project

Beleaguered Kennedy Expressway drivers will see a new traffic pattern in the outbound lanes starting Tuesday morning, as Stage 3 of the Kennedy Expressway Bridge Rehabilitation Project continues. The construction project has been under way since 2023.

The change affects the northwest end of the expressway project. Starting at 10 p.m. Monday night, gradual reduction to one lane began on the outbound Kennedy from Kostner Avenue to the Edens Expressway junction — with intermittent ramp closures, according to the Illinois Department of Transportation.

At midnight Monday night, the express lanes were set to close. All lanes and ramps temporarily closed overnight will reopen.

But a new traffic configuration approaching the Edens Expressway will be in place for a couple of weeks to come. The north end of the Kennedy work zone will be cut from six lanes to four, split into two lanes separated by a barrier wall, IDOT said.

The left two lanes will continue west on the outbound Kennedy toward O'Hare International Airport and the Jane Addams Memorial Tollway (I-90), while the right two lanes will shift slightly to the right and head north on the Edens Expressway, IDOT said.

"Anytime we institute a new traffic pattern, there's always a little bit of a learning curve for traffic to figure out," said IDOT District 1 bureau chief of construction Jon Schumacher.

Schumacher said IDOT will make adjustments if needed, but this traffic pattern should only last the next three weeks.

Meanwhile, the Keeler Avenue entrance ramp onto the outbound Kennedy, which has been closed since the start of the summer, will reopen by 5 a.m. Tuesday — a month earlier than expected.

For the Kennedy, the biggest question is, what about completion?

"We are definitely tracking towards completion before Thanksgiving," said Schumacher.

Schumacher said there are roughly 19 structures under construction in this last phase of the Kennedy project, and four are already completed.