The City of Chicago will begin its spring boat runs this Wednesday morning by sequentially lifting 27 bridges from S. Ashland Ave. to Lake Shore Drive. This allows recreational boat traffic to move from boat storage yards to harbors in Lake Michigan. Due to the recent and predicted inclement weather, some of the scheduled boat runs may be cancelled.

The Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT) has completed testing each bridge and will lift the movable bridges over the south and main branches of the Chicago River Chicago River so that sail boats and other pleasure craft can safely and easily move into summer docking locations up and down the shoreline.

Each year, in the spring and fall, CDOT raises the movable bridges along the Main and South Branches of the Chicago River on a twice weekly schedule on Saturdays and Wednesdays to accommodate recreational boats traveling to and from their storage yards.

“Despite this spring’s colder than normal temperatures, Chicagoans look forward to the lifting of Chicago’s iconic movable river bridges,” said CDOT Commissioner Rebekah Scheinfeld, who also serves as Chicago’s Harbor Master and has jurisdiction over the city’s waterways. “CDOT works with local boat storage yards each year to create a schedule that accommodates boats while causing the least amount of impact on downtown street traffic.”

During these “boat runs,” the bridges are raised sequentially, typically one at a time. Each bridge lift takes an average of 8-12 minutes. A total of 27 bridges will be lifted in succession from the Ashland Avenue Bridge on the South Branch to Lake Shore Drive.

The Spring 2018 bridge lift schedule is as follows:

• Wednesday, April 18 at 9:30 a.m.
• Saturday, April 21 at 8:00 a.m.
• Wednesday, April 25 at 9:30 a.m.
• Saturday, April 28 at 8:00 a.m.
• Wednesday, May 2 at 9:30 a.m.
• Saturday, May 5 at 8:00 a.m.
• Wednesday, May 9 at 9:30 a.m.
• Saturday, May 12 at 8:00 a.m.
• Wednesday, May 16 at 9:30 a.m.
• Saturday, May 19 at 8:00 a.m.
• Wednesday, May 23 at 9:30 a.m.
• Wednesday, May 30 at 9:30 a.m.
• Saturday, June 2 at 8:00 a.m.
• Wednesday, June 6 at 9:30 a.m.
• Saturday, June 9 at 8:00 a.m.
• Wednesday, June 13 at 9:30 a.m.
• Saturday, June 16 at 8:00 a.m.
• Wednesday, June 20 at 9:30 a.m.
• Saturday, June 23 at 8:00 a.m.
• Wednesday, June 27 at 9:30 a.m.
• Saturday, June 30 at 8:00 a.m.

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The web: chicagodot.org