Introducing: The completed Jane Byrne Interchange

[Crash_It]

Very surprised this hasn't been discussed yet on this forum from what I can see. Last Saturday afternoon, I drove on the freshly completed Jane Byrne Interchange to test it's performance during a rush period. How did it do? Results in video below

https://youtu.be/ee8IaETF-38

[JoePCool14]

I mentioned the completion on the Illinois notes thread recently. Anyway, thanks for uploading this. It was actually pretty useful to get a look at the final product. It's still crazy that this project took almost a decade to complete.

Just some feedback, I found the random visual retro camera effects a bit distracting in your video. Otherwise, this was a good look.

[ET21]

Drove through it last night, was quite impressed. I like the mini "express" lane section from Roosevelt/Taylor to Ohio St

[SSR_317]

Thanks for the video! I look forward to smoother travel in this area the next time I visit Chicago. It did seem to take forever to complete, but appears to have been worth the time, money, and effort it took to make these congested urban freeways run smoother. And I'm sorry, but I'll NEVER use the incorrect Chicagoland term "Expressway" for Interstate Freeways (though Chicago is by no means alone in that particular abomination)!

BTW, do out-of-towners now get confused when Ida B. Wells Drive (formerly Congress Parkway) intersects Wells Street just beyond the east end of I-290?

[kphoger]

BTW, do out-of-towners now get confused when Ida B. Wells Drive (formerly Congress Parkway) intersects Wells Street just beyond the east end of I-380?

I haven't driven in Chicago for years, but that certainly confused me when I was looking at Google Maps several weeks ago.

Also, I-380 is in Iowa.   

[SSR_317]

BTW, do out-of-towners now get confused when Ida B. Wells Drive (formerly Congress Parkway) intersects Wells Street just beyond the east end of I-380?

I haven't driven in Chicago for years, but that certainly confused me when I was looking at Google Maps several weeks ago.

Also, I-380 is in Iowa.   

Whoops, my typo has been corrected, many thanks for pointing it out! (I blame the wind chill for it  )

[ChiMilNet]

I will definitely be curious to see this is when I drive through it next time. Just curious, has anyone had a chance to check if it has helped with the inbound traffic on the Kennedy. The backup at the Burne Interchange would cascade several miles onto the Kennedy, so it would be nice to possibly have that moving a little better. Either way, glad this is finally done!

[ET21]

I will definitely be curious to see this is when I drive through it next time. Just curious, has anyone had a chance to check if it has helped with the inbound traffic on the Kennedy. The backup at the Burne Interchange would cascade several miles onto the Kennedy, so it would be nice to possibly have that moving a little better. Either way, glad this is finally done!

The holidays/recent bad weather is giving me likely false "usual" traffic with many people staying home/off when I look at it around 5pm. But last Wed IB Kennedy traffic was flowing freely.

[JoePCool14]

I will definitely be curious to see this is when I drive through it next time. Just curious, has anyone had a chance to check if it has helped with the inbound traffic on the Kennedy. The backup at the Burne Interchange would cascade several miles onto the Kennedy, so it would be nice to possibly have that moving a little better. Either way, glad this is finally done!

The holidays/recent bad weather is giving me likely false "usual" traffic with many people staying home/off when I look at it around 5pm. But last Wed IB Kennedy traffic was flowing freely.

Wait until after the new year (January 3rd). December is unreliable for getting usual peak traffic.

[Max Rockatansky]

I will definitely be curious to see this is when I drive through it next time. Just curious, has anyone had a chance to check if it has helped with the inbound traffic on the Kennedy. The backup at the Burne Interchange would cascade several miles onto the Kennedy, so it would be nice to possibly have that moving a little better. Either way, glad this is finally done!

The holidays/recent bad weather is giving me likely false "usual" traffic with many people staying home/off when I look at it around 5pm. But last Wed IB Kennedy traffic was flowing freely.

Wait until after the new year (January 3rd). December is unreliable for getting usual peak traffic.

I don't know if I recall a time during my years in Chicago if I encountered a free flowing Kennedy Expressway between 5 AM-9 PM. 

[JoePCool14]

I will definitely be curious to see this is when I drive through it next time. Just curious, has anyone had a chance to check if it has helped with the inbound traffic on the Kennedy. The backup at the Burne Interchange would cascade several miles onto the Kennedy, so it would be nice to possibly have that moving a little better. Either way, glad this is finally done!

The holidays/recent bad weather is giving me likely false "usual" traffic with many people staying home/off when I look at it around 5pm. But last Wed IB Kennedy traffic was flowing freely.

Wait until after the new year (January 3rd). December is unreliable for getting usual peak traffic.

I don't know if I recall a time during my years in Chicago if I encountered a free flowing Kennedy Expressway between 5 AM-9 PM.

Second half of March 2020. 

[Max Rockatansky]

I will definitely be curious to see this is when I drive through it next time. Just curious, has anyone had a chance to check if it has helped with the inbound traffic on the Kennedy. The backup at the Burne Interchange would cascade several miles onto the Kennedy, so it would be nice to possibly have that moving a little better. Either way, glad this is finally done!

The holidays/recent bad weather is giving me likely false "usual" traffic with many people staying home/off when I look at it around 5pm. But last Wed IB Kennedy traffic was flowing freely.

Wait until after the new year (January 3rd). December is unreliable for getting usual peak traffic.

I don't know if I recall a time during my years in Chicago if I encountered a free flowing Kennedy Expressway between 5 AM-9 PM.

Second half of March 2020. 

Problem there was that was close to two decades after I lived in the city.  Took advantage of those low traffic counts out west though. 

[ET21]

I will definitely be curious to see this is when I drive through it next time. Just curious, has anyone had a chance to check if it has helped with the inbound traffic on the Kennedy. The backup at the Burne Interchange would cascade several miles onto the Kennedy, so it would be nice to possibly have that moving a little better. Either way, glad this is finally done!

The holidays/recent bad weather is giving me likely false "usual" traffic with many people staying home/off when I look at it around 5pm. But last Wed IB Kennedy traffic was flowing freely.

Wait until after the new year (January 3rd). December is unreliable for getting usual peak traffic.

I don't know if I recall a time during my years in Chicago if I encountered a free flowing Kennedy Expressway between 5 AM-9 PM.

Second half of March 2020. 

Day after Christmas in 2011 was my first time seeing that between 5am and 9pm

[Henry]

The new interchange is beginning to grow on me. Although the NB-WB movement is now a regular flyover, I still call it my favorite one, as it's always had a very cool design, and also represents the crossroads of the area's expressway system (Kennedy to the north, Dan Ryan to the south, Congress Parkway/Ida B Wells Drive to the east, and Eisenhower to the west).

[Rick Powell]

I don't know if I recall a time during my years in Chicago if I encountered a free flowing Kennedy Expressway between 5 AM-9 PM.

Second half of March 2020. 

There was some kind of G8-NATO summit meeting in Chicago that attracted a lot of protestors back in May 2012. People were advised to stay away from the Loop. I was able to drive that morning from an early meeting in University Park IL to Chicago and have my vehicle parked at Washington/Wells, away from the action, in less than 45 minutes! The Dan Ryan was pretty empty and I'll bet the Kennedy was too.

[Brandon]

I will definitely be curious to see this is when I drive through it next time. Just curious, has anyone had a chance to check if it has helped with the inbound traffic on the Kennedy. The backup at the Burne Interchange would cascade several miles onto the Kennedy, so it would be nice to possibly have that moving a little better. Either way, glad this is finally done!

The holidays/recent bad weather is giving me likely false "usual" traffic with many people staying home/off when I look at it around 5pm. But last Wed IB Kennedy traffic was flowing freely.

Wait until after the new year (January 3rd). December is unreliable for getting usual peak traffic.

I suspect that the new interchange will wind up just as clogged as the old one (yes, I'm probably overly pessimistic).

[Rothman]

I will definitely be curious to see this is when I drive through it next time. Just curious, has anyone had a chance to check if it has helped with the inbound traffic on the Kennedy. The backup at the Burne Interchange would cascade several miles onto the Kennedy, so it would be nice to possibly have that moving a little better. Either way, glad this is finally done!

The holidays/recent bad weather is giving me likely false "usual" traffic with many people staying home/off when I look at it around 5pm. But last Wed IB Kennedy traffic was flowing freely.

Wait until after the new year (January 3rd). December is unreliable for getting usual peak traffic.

I suspect that the new interchange will wind up just as clogged as the old one (yes, I'm probably overly pessimistic).

Gee, what a profound prediction.  Capacity in a city like Chicago is bound to be filled sooner or later.

[SSOWorld]

I will definitely be curious to see this is when I drive through it next time. Just curious, has anyone had a chance to check if it has helped with the inbound traffic on the Kennedy. The backup at the Burne Interchange would cascade several miles onto the Kennedy, so it would be nice to possibly have that moving a little better. Either way, glad this is finally done!

The holidays/recent bad weather is giving me likely false "usual" traffic with many people staying home/off when I look at it around 5pm. But last Wed IB Kennedy traffic was flowing freely.

Wait until after the new year (January 3rd). December is unreliable for getting usual peak traffic.

I don't know if I recall a time during my years in Chicago if I encountered a free flowing Kennedy Expressway between 5 AM-9 PM.

Second half of March 2020. 

Day after Christmas in 2011 was my first time seeing that between 5am and 9pm

December 30, 2022 was my last time seeing a free-flowing Kennedy and Ryan in the timeframe - at 6:30 AM.

[The Ghostbuster]

Does anyone know why the Interstate 90/94 express lanes end at the Jane Byrne Interchange, only to restart south of Interstate 55? Did this project provide the "missing link" in the express lane gap? If not, would it be possible to close the gap with a lot of condemning surrounding homes and businesses?

[ilpt4u]

Does anyone know why the Interstate 90/94 express lanes end at the Jane Byrne Interchange, only to restart south of Interstate 55? Did this project provide the "missing link" in the express lane gap? If not, would it be possible to close the gap with a lot of condemning surrounding homes and businesses?

Kennedy (90/94 north of the Jane Byrne Circle) Reversible Express Lanes end at the Ohio Feeder.

Ryan (90/94 south of the Jane Byrne Circle) Permanent Express Lanes end at the Chinatown/Cermak Feeder.

Considering a decent amount of Downtown-bound traffic will use the appropriate feeder, I think the odds of any type of Express bridging the two separate Express/Local setups are slim-to-none

Almost as deep down the Fantasyland hole is trying to make a continuous roadway between the south end of Lower Wacker Drive and the north end of the Chinatown/Cermak Feeder, on the east bank of the Chicago River

[Crash_It]

Does anyone know why the Interstate 90/94 express lanes end at the Jane Byrne Interchange, only to restart south of Interstate 55? Did this project provide the "missing link" in the express lane gap? If not, would it be possible to close the gap with a lot of condemning surrounding homes and businesses?

There is a new set of express lanes through the interchange as seen in my video.

[Rick Powell]

Does anyone know why the Interstate 90/94 express lanes end at the Jane Byrne Interchange, only to restart south of Interstate 55? Did this project provide the "missing link" in the express lane gap? If not, would it be possible to close the gap with a lot of condemning surrounding homes and businesses?

There is a new set of express lanes through the interchange as seen in my video.

There are four local exits (Madison, Monroe, Washington, and Randolph) where you need to get into the new Collector/Distributor (C-D) lanes to access through the Jane Byrne project, but these C-D lanes end near I-290, and as ilpt4u states, there are only "general purpose" lanes going  from I-290 to the Chinatown/Cermak feeder.

[hobsini2]

Does anyone know why the Interstate 90/94 express lanes end at the Jane Byrne Interchange, only to restart south of Interstate 55? Did this project provide the "missing link" in the express lane gap? If not, would it be possible to close the gap with a lot of condemning surrounding homes and businesses?

Don't you dare take away the iconic Jim's Original. If you go there, I highly recommend the Bone In Pork Chop Sandwich with grilled onions and mustard. You will thank me.
https://www.google.com/maps/@41.8658272,-87.6450682,3a,75y,232.95h,82.15t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sT7a4gAxV1rUR9PLnu5_hdQ!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?hl=en

[hobsini2]

Crash, I was watching your video you did "The Hidden One" on Michigan Ave being former Route 1 and former US 14/41. One questions. Where did you find the information that Pershing Rd is "Unsigned Route 508"? I don't see anything on that in a Google search.

Also, I see you did not mention when you were crossing Garfield Blvd which is certainly an important crossroad in the city even though you mention 51st St which is lesser known.

[Crash_It]

Crash, I was watching your video you did "The Hidden One" on Michigan Ave being former Route 1 and former US 14/41. One questions. Where did you find the information that Pershing Rd is "Unsigned Route 508"? I don't see anything on that in a Google search.

I got it from a map that was shared on a thread elsewhere in this forum. Of course I also verify it using IDOT's own GIS map, I also forgot to reference Washington Blvd as unsigned 520 since at one point it was the old alignment of US-20 but is still maintained by IDOT. It's worth a future video.

Also, I see you did not mention when you were crossing Garfield Blvd which is certainly an important crossroad in the city even though you mention 51st St which is lesser known.

There are quite a few editing mistakes in this video. However, my understanding is that Garfield is less significant East of the Red line tracks as at that point west it becomes the demarcating line of Fuller Park, New City (Back of the Yards) and Englewood. Maggio TV (Bloody Chicago) mentions this point and a gas station in the area as a major conflict point for all the gangs of each of those respective neighborhoods. East of the tracks, it's still in Washington Park which is a troubled area that's gotten quite a bit better in the last decade and a half, at that point it's 51st St that serves as the border between Grand Boulevard (Bronzeville) and Washington Park.