Construction on I-57 is slated to be complete this summer, and other projects along the Stevenson should be done by the end of the year, according to the Illinois Department of Transportation.Īt the same time, the Chicago Department of Transportation is overseeing construction on DuSable Lake Shore Drive, Jackson Park and several Downtown viaducts in addition to road reconstruction and streetscape projects along six corridors.Ĭonstruction on DuSable Lake Shore Drive is slated to be done by mid-June. Road construction and streetscape projects are behind the excruciatingly long travel times.Ĭonstruction on the Kennedy began in March and will be done in stages over the next three years. “But what feel is that they’re experiencing that on steroids.” Construction Across The City ![]() ![]() “Around this time, there’s usually a seasonal increase in traffic, right? Baseball games, tours, concerts, all that’s coming to mind,” O’Connell said. CEO Kellie O’Connell said its delivery drivers have been running late to some locations because of traffic all hours of the day. Nourishing Hope, one of Chicago’s largest and longest operating food pantries, delivers food across the city. The unrelenting traffic is also impacting the way companies and organizations do business. Hernandez’s typical route takes her through Jackson Park, but with construction for the Obama Presidential Center, she backtracks west to avoid getting stuck in more traffic, she said. Now, it can take up to two hours, she said. Martha Hernandez, a Hyde Park resident, drives three days a week to Gary, Indiana. “Travel time to get Downtown on I-290 from I-88/I-294 during the morning rush hour takes as long as it did pre-pandemic and 50 percent longer than during the pandemic,” said Jennie Vana, deputy of Communications and Engagement for the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning. And with construction underway on four major roadways - the Kennedy, Stevenson, Interstate 57 and DuSable Lake Shore Drive - the season of gridlock has only just begun. Some said their commute times have easily doubled. Residents across the city, traveling in all directions, told Block Club traffic is the worst they’ve seen. Credit: Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago Traffic slows down as cars jam onto DuSable Lake Shore Drive at North Avenue on May 18, 2023. If it looks and feels like traffic this time of year is worse than usual - it is.ĭriver data collected between March and May by the navigation app Waze showed a 6.7 percent increase in traffic in Chicago over the same period last year.Ĭar travel appears to be approaching pre-pandemic levels, with a decrease in “travel time reliability” indicating congestion on the roads is rising, according to the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning. ![]() I wasn’t getting on any road at this point.” “I just went and found a patio, sat there …. “Last Friday, I was able to leave Wilmette around 3:30, 4, and there was no way in hell I was going to get on the Edens and the Kennedy,” Reynolds said. She has flexible work hours as a family assistant, which gives her some leeway on when she hits the road, she said. Traffic has gotten so bad - and unpredictable - that Reynolds delays her drive back to the city or avoids certain roads, she said. She didn’t get to Wilmette for almost two hours. CHICAGO - Laura Reynolds drives from Logan Square to suburban Wilmette, a trip that typically takes about an hour, for work several times a week.
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