Navy Pier Flyover closed for four days this week

The long delayed $60 million project is reportedly still on track to be completed by the end of the year

By Ryan Smith Jun 24, 2019, 9:31am CDT

The lane markings on the flyover’s first phase, pictured here in December, need to be repainted after just six months.

The Navy Pier Flyover is taking a few days off this week.

The new section of the Lakefront Trail will be closed from 7 a.m. Monday until 3 p.m. on Thursday while getting permanent striping along the pavement, according to the Chicago Department of Transportation. The previous lines painted to mark the separation of bicyclists and pedestrians faded over the course of Chicago’s seemingly endless winter, said CDOT spokesperson Michael Claffey.

The temporary detour is a familiar one—pedestrians and bicyclists will take the old route of Lower Lake Shore Drive across Illinois and Grand streets. The city is also closing a lane of Upper Lake Shore Drive on Tuesday from approximately 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. to transfer steel beams needed to complete the next stages of the project.

The second phase of the slow-moving $60 million project, which began construction back in 2014, takes place over the Ogden Slip and the future site of DuSable Park. The third phase will extend the flyover over the Chicago River. It won’t be easy because the city will cut part of the trail through the two bridge houses on the east side of the two-level steel bascule bridge on Lake Shore Drive, built in 1937.

When the project is finally completed, the 2,160-foot flyover will carry foot and bike traffic over Illinois Street and Grand Avenue.

The goal remains to open the full flyover by the end of 2019. “We’re asking folks to bear with us in the meantime,” said Claffey.