The bad news: Although the Illinois Department of Transportation told us that the Kennedy Expressway's reversible lanes were set to (finally!) reopen a few weeks ago, the plans were delayed because of a slew of different issues.
The good news: The agency just announced that the lanes will be in use again starting the week of January 13. Woohoo!
As Chicagoans are aware of, the express lanes have been closed from the Edens Junction to Ohio Street since March as part of a $150 million, three-phase and three-year-long construction project. These particular closures were part of the second phase of the work. Next year, expect the outbound Kennedy to be affected through Hubbard's Cave.
In 2023, officials worked on the inbound lanes—so we're more than halfway through the massive project and, given that nearly 300,000 vehicles use the expressway daily, the changes will affect a pretty solid portion of the city's drivers.
As mentioned by NBC Chicago, the delay in this latest reopening was due to a software integration problem.
"Officials stressed that work is continuing behind the scenes, and acknowledged it may be frustrating for drivers to not see active crews," reports the outlet.
"The improvements are highly technical and require time and effort behind the scenes, but they will result in a much safer and reliable system for the millions of people who rely on the Kennedy," said Illinois Transportation Secretary Omer Osman in an official press release. "We look forward to opening the express lanes as safely and expeditiously as possible."
Needless to say, we very much look forward to the opening as well.