Update on the Jane Byrne Interchange Spaghetti Bowl
What a nightmare!
The Jane Byrne Interchange (until 2014, Circle Interchange) is a major freeway interchange near downtown Chicago, Illinois. It is the junction between the Dan Ryan, Kennedy and Eisenhower Expressways (Interstate 90/Interstate 94 [I-90/I-94] and I-290), and Ida B. Wells Drive. In a dedication ceremony held on August 29, 2014, this interchange was renamed in honor of former Chicago Mayor Jane M. Byrne (1979–1983).
This interchange is notorious for its traffic jams. In 2004, it was rated as the country’s third-worst traffic bottleneck, with the drivers of the approximately 300,000 vehicles a day using it[1] losing a combined 25 million hours each year.[2] In a 2010 study of freight congestion (truck speed and travel time), the Department of Transportation ranked this section of the I-290 as having the worst congestion in the United States; the average truck speed is just 29.41 mph (47.33 km/h).
In 2015 they had a plan. $474 million and a 4 year schedule to get this expansion done and untangle the spaghetti! 4 years in and $300 million over budget (so far) now the new projected date is sometime in 2022-2023. (Hopefully!)
Per the 2019 Annual Update of the Jane Byrne Interchange Financial Plan provided by the state, the price increase includes $52.9 million in additional construction expenses and $24.8 million in new engineering costs. The document predicts that the work will be done by November 1, 2022 — that’s almost 4.5 years behind schedule. But the state cautioned that variables like weather could delay the work even longer.
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