Wacker Drive Now Closed For Work Between Monroe And Adams
CHICAGO (CBS) -- About a year and a half after it began, the work to rebuild about half of Wacker Drive has shifted south.
As WBBM Newsradio's Regine Schlesinger reports, the $300 million Revive Wacker Drive project to rebuild Upper and Lower Wacker Drive between Lake Street and the interchange with the Eisenhower Expressway is running on time and on budget.
LISTEN: WBBM Newsradio's Regine Schlesinger reports
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The work around the junction with Madison Street has been completed, and the intersection has been reopened.
Now, crews are moving on to the stretch of Wacker Drive between Monroe and Adams streets, and the intersections at either end of that stretch are closed.
For pedestrians, the sidewalks at Madison Street are open again, and the Chicago Department of Transportation will maintain a pedway on the north side of Monroe Street at Wacker. Jackson Boulevard also remains open.
The sidewalk along the east side of Wacker Drive from Jackson Boulevard to Adams Street will stay open to allow access to the Willis Tower.
But cars and bicycles will have to detour from Monroe and Adams streets until this summer, when the work moves to the stretch between Jackson and Van Buren streets.
The Revive Wacker Drive project began in June 2010, when work began to reconstruct the interchange between Wacker and the Eisenhower Expressway. That work will be in progress until this summer.
The project to rebuild the north-south portion of Wacker Drive began a year ago at Randolph Street.
A double-decker road along the Chicago River was part of Daniel Burnham's 1909 Plan for Chicago. The east-west leg of Wacker Drive was completed in 1926, replacing River Street and most of South Water Street, while the north-south leg was finished in 1954, replacing Market Street.
East-west Wacker Drive was rebuilt from Michigan Avenue to Randolph Street in 2001 and 2002.
