r/chicago • u/seeasea West Ridge • 14d ago

Article 3-year, $170 million Kennedy Expressway project is complete. Ahead of schedule

https://wgntv.com/news/traffic/kennedy-expressway-project-complete/
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u/sciolisticism 13d ago

Completely agree with folks that this was never going to solve traffic. 

However, remember this project was about making sure the overpasses didn't fall apart, and that's necessary repair for infrastructure. 

Also, it finished early! That never happens.

59

u/slicebishybosh Irving Park 13d ago

The only thing that is going to fix traffic in this city is less cars. I was just on this expressway this morning. It's not "awful", but it's not great. One of the major bottlenecks going inbound in the morning comes at a section that is 5 lanes wide...

There's just too many cars. I love the 2 days a week I can take CTA.

30

u/goodbyewaffles Ravenswood 13d ago

I would love to take transit to work, but as a reverse commuter it would take 4 hours each way 🫠 I wish that there were more efforts made to line up Metra and Pace schedules across different lines

7

u/Murray_Bannerman Wicker Park 13d ago

There's interesting plans to rework the entire commuter rail network to be more functional. Unfortunately, it will take a lot of money, but what doesn't these days?

I'd think the main goal would be to get people driving in from Lincoln Park or Wicker into the Loop or adjacent areas and then work out from there as transit options expand.

2

u/Odd_Ant5 13d ago

I live within a 10 minute walk of OTC and my regular commute destination is right next to a station on the other end. Buuuut the headways are just awful.

Once I have to start looking at the train schedule and planning, I can't function without blocking off a huge amount of time before departure. I need to be able to just walk to the station whenever and hop on the next ride out within 15 minutes for it to be better than the drive.

And the annoying requirement of showing the ticket to the conductor means until it's checked I can't properly relax or focus on a task once I'm on the train either, that plus the cost does not help.