Lanes at Pulaski Road and 35th Place will close starting Wednesday until further notice, the Chicago Department of Transportation announced Sunday.
The closures are "out of an abundance of caution," due to the close proximity of the former Crawford Power Generating Station where just one month earlier a demolition created a cloud of dust and sparked outrage among residents.
According to the CDOT, the Department of Buildings has determined that the turbine structure is unsound and will need to be removed as soon as possible in the interest of public safety.
The road closures will remain in place once the work resumes and go until the demolition at the site is complete, the CDOT said.
Last week, Mayor Lori Lightfoot halted the planned demolition at the former generating station in the city's Little Village neighborhood, saying she will continue community engagement regarding site plans.
Inspectors determined that the building poses a public safety hazard because the building is structurally unsound and must be dismantled, Lightfoot said in a statement Thursday night.
"In order to allow additional time to continue discussions with the community about the structurally dangerous condition of that small building, the city has ordered that for now, the demolition will not move forward over the next several days," she said.
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Beginning Wednesday, traffic will be shifted to the west side of the roadway and there will be one lane open in each direction.
The CDOT advised drivers to temporarily use alternative routes such as Cicerio Avenue to the west or Kedzie Avenue to the east.
Due to construction, the northbound CTA bus stop at Pulaski and 36th will be temporarily out of service until further notice, according to the CDOT.
In April, the Hilco Redevelopment Partners company conducted a scheduled implosion of a smoke stack at the Crawford Power Generating Station, located in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood. After the implosion of the structure at the now defunct coal-fired power plant, a massive cloud of dust quickly engulfed a large area around the site.
