| Start 8: Dan Ryan Expressway Reconstruction
Cost: $430 million Chicago's Day Ryan Expressway is
getting an additional lane as part of a reconstruction project from 31st Street
to the Interstate 57 Interchange.
The famed South Side thoroughfare will
have seven lanes in each direction, said Mike Claffey, a spokesman in Chicago
for the Illinois Department of Transportation, the agency overseeing the project.
There will be an additional local lane in each direction from 47th Street to 63rd
Street, and an additional lane in each direction from 67th Street to 95th Street.
The
Ryan has not been rebuilt since the 1960s, yet it is carrying a higher volume
of traffic than it was designed to bear.
"It has surpassed its intended
design life by more than 20 years," Claffey added. "It had a high accident
rate, and the ramps are not configured ideally."
Without a rebuild,
the thoroughfare would likely deteriorate quickly and become less safe than it
is because it is the busiest in the entire Chicago area
and one of the busiest
in the nation.
About 320,000 vehicles travel the Dan Ryan each day on average,
a doubling from the 1960s when 150,000 vehicles trekked the expressway. Refurbishing
the Ryan The work from the ground up will be encompassing and includes resurfacing
each lane, installing new retaining walls and ramps and reconfiguring the interchange
leading to the Chicago Skyway.
Claffey said resurfacing will be divided
into three sectors and will only be done one sector at a time: 31st Street to
57th Street, 57th to 71st Street and 71st to the I-57 interchange. The resurfacing
will not start until 2006 and will continue through 2007.
The resurfaced
roadway will be composed of a gravel base, concrete, asphalt and concrete, Claffey
said. No information was immediately available on the reconstructed roadway's
thickness.
Ramps are being lengthened to improve safety, and some have
already been reconstructed.
A full interchange will be created at 47th
with the addition of northbound exit and a southbound entrance, Claffey said.
Two
access roads, 47th and 63rd streets, are also being reconstructed as part of the
project.
Other elements include enhanced lighting and overhead message
signs, improved sewers to reduce flooding, higher barrier walls along the Chicago
Transit Authority's Dan Ryan Red Line and landscaping.
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