Dan Ryan, Want the Good News First or the Bad?

By Timmy Watson in News on Feb 25, 2007 6:45PM

The Illinois Department of Transportation is still sticking to completion date for the Dan Ryan reconstruction project. Resuming heavy work on the project, the department has indicated that the ramp from the Skyway to the Dan Ryan local lanes will be closed until June. For those that can't take an alternate route, it's a little confusing. All Skyway traffic will be directed into the express lanes. If you normally exit at 59th Street, Garfield Boulevard, 47th Street or 43rd Street, you must exit the Skyway at State Street. Yeah, we say just don't take it.

Now, the good: the rest of the work is expected to be completed by Fall, and IDOT announced that the retainer walls between the 51st Street and 59th Street exits will display embedded medallions. Of the medallions, three were student-designed pieces that received the most votes in an online contest sponsored by IDOT. Two additional medallions were done by Chicago-based artist Bernard Williams, and the final medallion will bear the IDOT logo. In total there will be 139 medallions on the strip.

The student designs were completed in an after-school course at Little Black Pearl Art and Design Center.