CHICAGO — The Illinois Department of Transportation claimed the reversible lanes of the Kennedy Expressway would reopen this fall even as updates from the contractor to IDOT in September and October said the project was only 70 percent complete. An agency spokesperson also repeatedly claimed to reporters the reopening was not behind schedule while the contract showed a completion date of October 31st.
Those are just a few of the findings of a WGN Investigates analysis of contracts and communication between IDOT and the firms doing the work on the six-mile stretch of roadway that can flip from inbound to outbound depending on the volume of traffic.
IDOT finally acknowledged on Tuesday that the reversible lanes won’t reopen until the week of January 13th .
Kennedy Expressway express lanes will not reopen by end of 2024, IDOT says Kennedy Rehab Project: 5 things to know
“This has been a very fluid situation over the last six weeks or so, and without having a firm date in mind it would been hard to convey accurate messaging as to when the lanes will reopen,” is how IDOT construction chief Sean Martschinke explained the muddled messaging.