Mar 24 2014

Ashland Ave Closed This Weekend for Bloomingdale Trail Bridge Improvements

TRAFFIC ALERT
March 24, 2014

CONTACT:
CDOT Media Affairs
312.744.0707
cdotnews@cityofchicago.org

ASHLAND AVENUE TO BE CLOSED NEXT WEEKEND FOR BLOOMINGDALE TRAIL BRIDGE IMPROVEMENTS
Traffic to be Detoured, Overnight Bridge Movement March 28-30

The third stage of bridge improvements related to the Bloomingdale Trail construction will cause a weekend closure of Ashland Avenue from March 28-30, including overnight work, to remove the structure and place it in an adjacent work yard just north of Walsh Park, where it will be cleaned, assessed, and painted.

Ashland Avenue will be closed to all traffic between North Avenue (1600N) and Armitage Avenue (2000N) during this work period, with detours for vehicles and pedestrians.

All vehicular traffic, including CTA’s Ashland Avenue Route #9 buses, will be detoured to east to Elston Avenue via North and Armitage Avenues. Pedestrians and bicyclists will be detoured west to Marshfield Avenue.

Crews will begin work at 8 p.m. on Friday, March 28, working around the clock to complete the process as quickly and efficiently as possible. Ashland will be re-opened no later than 5 a.m. on Monday, March 31. While a 48-hour work period has been estimated, the street may be opened sooner if work is completed ahead of schedule.

The current bridge in place at Ashland will be moved into what will become the expanded Walsh Park on the north side of Bloomingdale Avenue. There, the bridge will be cleaned of paint, assessed for structural integrity, and freshly painted. Barring unforeseen issues, the bridge will then be moved into place at Western the weekend of April 18-20.

The kind of adaptive reuse seen in the Ashland/Western bridge replacement is one the hallmarks of the Bloomingdale Trail, which is focused on being both environmentally-friendly and cost-efficient. The ‘new’ bridge at Western will replace the one demolished

earlier in the month, and will provide uninterrupted travel along the Bloomingdale Trail, the centerpiece of The 606 rails-to-trails project.

The work on Ashland follows the successful removal of concrete on the bridge across Milwaukee Avenue March 14-16, and the March 7-9 demotion of the Bloomingdale Avenue bridge over Western. Both projects finished ahead of the projected work period.
Residents living near the bridge may hear some noise during the weekend work period. However, this work is not anticipated to be as loud as work at Western or at Milwaukee, as no pneumatic devices are required.

The 606 park and trail system is the signature project of Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s push to create 800 new parks, recreation areas and green spaces throughout Chicago over the next five years. For more information visit www.The606.org

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