Emanuel Breaks Ground On Navy Pier Flyover

By Chuck Sudo in News on Mar 19, 2014 6:30PM

Rendering credit via Chicago Department of Transportation

Mayor Rahm Emanuel and U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin broke ground Tuesday on the long-planned Navy Pier Flyover project. Upon its estimated completion in 2018, the project will significantly reduce pedestrian and bicycle congestion on a section of the Lakefront Trail that desperately needs to be redone.

The first phase of construction for the $60 million project will begin next week. It will run from Jane Addams Park north of Grand Avenue to the Ogden slip, cost $26.4 million and is expected to be completed by the end of 2015. It’s being primarily funded by the US. Department of Transportation using Congestion Mitigation Air Quality Improvement (CMAQ), with additional funding from the State of Illinois. It will involve the temporary closure of the right travel lane and shoulder of northbound Upper Lake Shore Drive for one block between Illinois Street and Grand Avenue starting March 24. The off-ramp from Upper Lake Shore Drive to Illinois Street will also be reduced to one lane. The Lakefront Trail will remain open to pedestrians and cyclists during all phases of construction but the path will detour around construction activity.

The project, when completed, will have a path along Lake Shore Drive’s Flyover Bridge dedicated to pedestrian and bicycle traffic. Runners and cyclists familiar with the Lakefront Trail know the risks involved with navigating the narrow sidewalk of the Flyover bridge and how close it comes to northbound Lake Shore Drive traffic. Durbin compared it to a bumper-car ride during Tuesday’s groundbreaking ceremony. Improving the path over the bridge will be the final phase of the project. The second segment will involve improving the path between the Ogden Slip and Chicago River.