The Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT) said today that existing lane closures on Washington St. as part of the Loop Link transit project will be extended starting next week from Clark St. to State St. This will mean that Washington St. will be reduced to two lanes from Wacker Drive to State St. Lane closures currently in place on Madison St. from Michigan to Wacker Drive will remain in effect, with additional overnight full closures on Madison for utility work planned for next week.

Starting early Tuesday, May 26th, crews will extend the current closure on eastbound Washington from Wacker to Clark for two more blocks to State St. All traffic on Washington from Wacker to State will be on two lanes along the north side of the street. Access will be maintained to alleys and parking lots in the construction zone. In addition, no right turns are allowed at LaSalle St. 

In the coming weeks, the closure on Washington will be extended to Michigan Ave. 

In addition, there will be a full overnight closure for five nights of Madison St. for utility work from State to Wells St. starting at 8 pm lasting until 6 am, starting the night of Tuesday, May 26^th. . 

City traffic officials will be closely monitoring traffic impacts and areas of congestion so that real-time adjustments can be made, if necessary, to improve traffic flow. 

Downtown motorists can expect delays in areas where lanes are reduced to two lanes during construction. Although no detours are planned and all garages and alleys will remain accessible, those driving should allow extra time when traveling through the construction zone and should consider using alternate routes through the Loop. 

The Loop Link project, scheduled for substantial completion by the end of 2015, will modernize the Loop’s transit infrastructure, making bus travel faster and more reliable for the roughly 30,000 bus commuters that travel across the corridor and at Union Station each day. The project will create a balanced separation of bus, bike and regular traffic by installing red-colored bus only lanes on

Madison, Washington, Canal and Clinton on a circuit extending from Union Station to Millennium Park. Two lanes will be dedicated for cars and trucks and protected bike lanes will be installed eastbound on Washington, westbound on Randolph and in both directions on Clinton. 

More than 1,000 bus trips will traverse the Loop Link each day. The buses on the Loop Link serve a number of Chicago neighborhoods, including South Shore, Little Village, Austin and Logan Square to name a few, and the services make critical links to Union Station, Ogilvie Transportation Center, CTA subways and Navy Pier.

For more information on the Loop Link, go to www.ChicagoLoopLink.com 

You can also follow CDOT on digital media:

Twitter: @ChicagoDOT

Facebook: www.facebook.com/CDOTNews

The web chicagodot.org