The bridges over the Chicago River at Clark and Dearborn Streets will be closed for several days each in June, beginning next week, in order to build a walkway underneath the bridge as part of the ongoing Chicago Riverwalk construction project.

The Chicago Riverwalk project will create a continuous pedestrian path along the south bank of the Main Branch of the Chicago River from State Street to Lake Street. Construction of the underbridge connections will require lifting and closing the bridges for a period of several days each.

The Clark Bridge closure is the first of the three this summer. It will be from Thursday, June 12th through Friday, June 13th and from Tuesday, June 17th through Friday, June 20th.

The closure of the Dearborn Bridge will follow, from Tuesday, June 24th through Monday, June 30th.

The State Street Bridge closure will be in mid-July, the exact dates of which are to be determined.

For the Clark Street Bridge closure, all vehicles, including CTA buses, will be detoured west to LaSalle Street via Grand Avenue, and back east to Clark via Wacker Drive. Southbound bikes on Clark will be detoured east on Kinzie Street to the two-way bike lanes on Dearborn.

For the Dearborn Bridge closure, all vehicles including CTA buses, will be detoured west on Wacker Drive, north on La Salle Street, east on Illinois Street to Dearborn.

Northbound bicycles on Dearborn will detour east on Lake Street, north on State Street, west on Kinzie Street, then back to Dearborn. Southbound bikes on will detour west on Kinzie Street, south on Clark Street, then return to Dearborn via Lake Street.

The bridges over the river establish a boundary between each Riverwalk block, which allow for each to have a unique identity and landscaping, linked by the continuous walkway along the river, beneath each bridge. The Riverwalk design plans include the build out of six blocks from State to Lake, with an extension of 25 feet from the current configuration into the river.

# # #