Byrne Interchange Ramp Closures Begin
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Ramp closures started Tuesday night for a 16-month construction project fixing the Jane Byrne Interchange.
On Tuesday night, the following closures went into effect:
- The ramp from Roosevelt Road to I-290/Congress Parkway will be closed, with motorists being directed to drive east on Roosevelt and access the Congress Parkway via Jefferson, Harrison and Wells streets or to drive west on Roosevelt and access the outbound Eisenhower via Ashland Avenue and Van Buren Streets.
- The ramp from Taylor Street to the inbound Dan Ryan will be closed, with motorists being directed to use Taylor Street to Jefferson Street and re-enter the expressway via the Adams Street ramp.
The following closures will go into effect at 5 a.m., Friday:
CBS 2's Derrick BLakley reports, businesses are already bracing for the impact on their customers.
Customers at Manny's Deli come for the corned beef, but they arrive by car and getting there from the expressway is about to get tougher.
"In the beginning, I think we'll feel a dropoff for a least for the short period of time," said Ken Raskin, the owner of Manny's.
The restaurant is sandwiched, pun intended, between the Roosevelt Road entrance to the inbound Ryan and the Taylor Street inbound entrance, both close Tuesday at 10 p.m.
"It's just easier for people to get on the highway," Raskin said. "The ramp's a block away from here. Now they'll probably have to go up to Adams, which isn't so terrible, but it's a few blocks out of the way."
The flyover project will replace the dreaded one-lane ramp from the northbound Ryan to the westbound Eisenhower with two-lanes, to relieve congestion, but first comes construction pain.
"We really encourage motorists to find alternative methods, maybe carpool, start early, but it's going to take motorists longer to get through the interchange," said Carson Quinn, IDOT spokeswoman.
The shutdowns are expected to last until summer 2015.
35,000 vehicles each day that travel from the northbound Ryan to the westbound Ike.
