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"The Dan Ryan first opened more than 40 years ago and it is now feeling the effects of as many as 320,000 vehicles that travel the expressway every day," said Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) Secretary Tim Martin in a recent press release. "That's why IDOT is investing more than $600 million in the South Side to build a safer Dan Ryan, add a new lane in each direction, improve local access roads, and spur job creation and economic development."
Last week, IDOT officials began strongly recommending that area motorists begin to test-run and reroute travel that would usually involve the Dan Ryan expressway on the city's south side. Starting April 1, a significant stretch of Chicago's major travel artery—I90/94— will undergo its extensive two-year overhaul. Transportation officials anticipate that Chicago will have to endure two years of road construction, the likes of which, the city has not yet seen.
"Drivers of passenger vehicles should avoid the Dan Ryan entirely," said Martin. IDOT suggests that many motorists use public transportation or IDOT-designated alternate routes, while truckers will be urged to stay on the expressway because their vehicles are too heavy for local streets. "Our message is 'Cars Off, Trucks On," said Martin.
"A lot of people are going to be inconvenienced by this," commented Nancy H., a retired school teacher residing in the city's South Chicago neighborhood near the Indiana border. With a lifetime of experience driving all over Chicagoland, Nancy is very familiar with city's expressway network. However, she foresees that her tactic for using I90/94's outerdrive during rush hour traffic jams will not be a permanent solution. "The outer drive is going to be pretty crowded in the middle of this construction," she lamented.
"The Dan Ryan from the south, even without construction, has always been a gamble going into the city," remarked Dan C., a Matteson resident. "Sometimes you can just cruise through, but more often than not you're going to hit bumper to bumper at some point. That and there are some very dangerous drivers on the Dan Ryan. Once the construction starts, we will avoid it like the plague. We'll take the Metra downtown and then walk or take public transit from there."
Although the Dan Ryan has seen several exit closures due to construction over the past two years in preparation— many more are scheduled in the coming year— the upcoming project will effectively reduce six lanes of traffic down to three. Motorists who attempt to travail the familiar thoroughfare will most likely meet with traffic jams more frustrating than those currently experienced on the Dan Ryan. According to IDOT, crews are scheduled to shut down the express lanes between 31st and 74th streets overnight starting March 31. Lanes also will be reduced on the bridge between 13th and 31st streets and limited to three lanes from 71st to the I-57 merge.
As of March 15, rush-hour parking restrictions have been added to designated alternate routes. A list of routes and a detailed construction schedule is available at www.danryanexpressway.com or by calling 877-411-IDOT.
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