Starting Friday night, the Chicago Department of Transportation will close Lake Street over the Chicago River to do maintenance work on the bridge structure. CDOT says not only will this impact drivers, but CTA "L" trains (Green and Pink lines) will be delayed at that point as well. For drivers, the detour through 3 p.m. Sunday is to take Clinton Street south to Washington, then jump on Wacker northbound, then head back to Lake Street.
That's not the only issue for the CTA this weekend. From 10 p.m. Friday until 4 a.m. Monday, the Chicago Avenue Blue Line Stop is closed. It's part of the "Your New Blue" redevelopment project along the O'Hare branch of the link. Grand Avenue is your alternate.
In Metra news, a convenient way to get to the Chicago Auto Show is the Electric Line or the Rock Island Line. Both routes are offering special deals to get to the consumer show, and one of the best aspects is not having to go outside at all thanks to the station being inside McCormick Place. The South Shore Line in from Northwest Indiana will also be offering Auto Show schedules.
A heads up for drivers in the Ravenswood neighborhood on the North Side of Chicago: Montrose Avenue is closing Monday for some major bridge work on Metra's UP-North line, at Montrose and Ravenswood. Drivers will need to use Damen or Ashland to head south to Irving Park Road as the alternate through Friday, Feb. 21.
You can access real-time incident reports and congestion data anytime you need it on our NBC Chicago app. It's free and ensures your stress-level will be low all weekend long.