Not everyone who lives in or visits Chicago enjoys a car-free existence. And for them, there is the Jane Byrne Interchange.
We haven’t talked about it much since reconstruction commenced on the intersection of the Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Ryan Expressways. Partly because it’s been going on for eight years, and mostly because you can get the latest updates about the project every ten minutes by turning on WBBM radio.
A lot fewer people are feeling the Byrne these days, which is allowing construction to progress. At its height, it carried 300,000 vehicles a day. Today, it’s closer to Old Man Whitherspoon making newspaper deliveries, and that jackwagon from down the block who doesn’t realize the “vroom vroom” noises his BMW makes are recordings played on a speaker, and neither the sound of a souped up engine, nor a replacement for his lack of virility.
For those who have to brave the confluence of I-90, I-94, I-290, Illinois 110, and the Chicago-Kansas City Expressway, it’s like a navigating a swift kick in the pistons. But from above, it’s actually kind of neat. As you can see in these pictures taken over the weekend by YoChicago!.