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The Jane Byrne Interchange (until 2014, Circle Interchange) is a major freeway interchange near
downtown Chicago ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business district ...
, Illinois. It is the junction between the Dan Ryan,
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and
Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...
Expressways (
I-90 Interstate 90 (I-90) is an east–west transcontinental freeway and the longest Interstate Highway in the United States at . It begins in Seattle, Washington, and travels through the Pacific Northwest, Mountain West, Great Plains, Midwest, and ...
/ I-94 and
I-290 Interstate 290 may refer to the following Interstate Highways in the United States: *Interstate 290 (Illinois), a highway from Chicago, Illinois, to Rolling Meadows, Illinois * Interstate 290 (Massachusetts), a highway in Massachusetts that connects ...
), and Ida B. Wells Drive. In a dedication ceremony held on August 29, 2014, this interchange was renamed in honor of former
Chicago mayor The mayor of Chicago is the chief executive of city government in Chicago, Illinois, the third-largest city in the United States. The mayor is responsible for the administration and management of various city departments, submits proposals and ...
Jane M. Byrne (1979–1983). Developed in the late 1950s and 1960s, over time the interchange in its original configuration became notorious for traffic jams. In 2004, it was rated as the country's third-worst
traffic bottleneck A traffic bottleneck is a localized disruption of vehicular traffic on a street, road, or highway. As opposed to a traffic jam, a bottleneck is a result of a specific physical condition, often the design of the road, badly timed traffic lights, ...
, with approximately 400,000 vehicles a day using it losing a combined 25 million hours each year. In a 2010 study of freight congestion (truck speed and travel time), the
U.S. Department of Transportation The United States Department of Transportation (USDOT or DOT) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It is headed by the secretary of transportation, who reports directly to the President of the United States and ...
ranked this section of the I-290 as having the worst congestion in the United States; the average truck speed is just . This led to an $800 million reconfiguration begun in 2013 and completed in December 2022.


Design

This interchange as originally built was an asymmetrical turbine interchange, with each of the four mainlines having a single entrance and exit serving both directions of the crossing highway. It did not use the quadruple-decker architecture commonly associated with
stack interchange A directional interchange, colloquially known as a stack interchange, is a type of grade-separated junction between two controlled-access highways that allows for free-flowing movement to and from all directions of traffic. These interchanges e ...
s. Instead, it had a flattened layout, using the long, curving ramps to circumnavigate the crossing of the mainlines. This resulted in fewer tall bridges and gave the interchange its distinctive "circle" appearance. Since 2016, it has had a three-level stack in the center due to the realignment of the north-to-west ramp. Both I-90/I-94 and I-290/ Ida B. Wells Drive have four lanes in each direction at this interchange (three lanes prior to December 2022). Most of the ramps leading to and from the freeways are one lane wide, except for the ramps from eastbound I-290 to I-90/94 in both directions and the ramp from I-90/94 westbound/
Dan Ryan Expressway The Dan Ryan Expressway is an expressway in Chicago that runs from the Circle Interchange with Interstate 290 (I-290) near Downtown Chicago through the South Side of the city. It is designated as both I-90 and I-94 south to 66th Street, a d ...
to I-290; these ramps are two lanes wide. This interchange centers on Ida B. Wells Drive (the east–west surface street that is the continuation of the Eisenhower Expressway beyond its terminus several blocks east of the interchange) and extends roughly from
Halsted Street Halsted Street is a major north-south street in the U.S. city of Chicago, Illinois. Location In Chicago's grid system, Halsted Street marks 800 West, west of State Street, from Grace Street (3800 N) in Lakeview south to the city limits at t ...
on the west to Jefferson Street on the east. The tracks of the
Chicago Transit Authority The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) is the operator of mass transit in Chicago, Illinois, United States, and some of its surrounding suburbs, including the trains of the Chicago 'L' and CTA bus service. In , the system had a ridership of , o ...
Blue Line 'L' train pass directly underneath the center of the interchange, running in an east–west direction, as they transition from surface operation in the median of the Eisenhower Expressway, to a subway to the east of the Interchange. This complicates where support columns could be located in any future construction at this interchange.


History

Originally known as the Congress Interchange and changed to Circle Interchange in 1964, it was built in the late 1950s and early 1960s, at the same time as the construction of the
Kennedy Expressway The John F. Kennedy Expressway is a nearly freeway in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Portions of the freeway carry I-190, I-90 and I-94. The freeway runs in a southeast–northwest direction between the central city neighborhood of the W ...
. The
University of Illinois at Chicago The University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) is a Public university, public research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its campus is in the Near West Side, Chicago, Near West Side community area, adjacent to the Chicago Loop. The second campus esta ...
is to the southwest of the interchange. When the campus opened in 1965, it was called the University of Illinois at Chicago Circle, making it the only university in the world known to be named after a freeway interchange. Due to its congestion, the May 2008 issue of ''
Popular Mechanics ''Popular Mechanics'' (sometimes PM or PopMech) is a magazine of popular science and technology, featuring automotive, home, outdoor, electronics, science, do-it-yourself, and technology topics. Military topics, aviation and transportation o ...
'' listed this interchange among their list of ''the 10 Pieces of U.S. Infrastructure We Must Fix Now''. In a dedication ceremony held on August 29, 2014, this interchange, formerly called the Circle Interchange, was renamed the Jane Byrne Interchange in honor of former
Chicago Mayor The mayor of Chicago is the chief executive of city government in Chicago, Illinois, the third-largest city in the United States. The mayor is responsible for the administration and management of various city departments, submits proposals and ...
Jane M. Byrne (1979–1983). The market's radio and television
traffic reporting Traffic reporting is the near real-time distribution of information about road conditions such as traffic congestion, detours, and traffic collisions. The reports help drivers anticipate and avoid traffic problems. Traffic reports, especially in c ...
services immediately instituted the interchange's new name, though many went with a dual reference of the "Jane Byrne–Circle Interchange" during a transition period until the services updated their maps and road signage was changed to reflect the new name, to avert confusion.


Reconstruction project

In August 2012, the
Illinois Department of Transportation The Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) is a state agency in charge of state-maintained public roadways of the U.S. state of Illinois. In addition, IDOT provides funding for rail, public transit and airport projects and administers fuel ...
(IDOT) began the planning and design phases for the potential rehabilitation of this interchange. It has established a project web site, which is being used to schedule public meetings. On April 3, 2013, the ''Chicago Tribune'' featured a front-page article on the estimated $420 million project, which was slated to take four years. The project began in late 2013. The interchange, as well as a series of overpasses surrounding it, would receive a complete overhaul, including the addition of a flyover ramp from northbound I-90/I-94 to westbound I-290. It also sought to move the Taylor Street exit (from eastbound I-90/I-94 traffic) north. The northwest flyover of the Jane Byrne Interchange opened on December 4, 2016, after which the old ramp was closed and demolished. Several more ramps, as well as the expressways themselves, were rebuilt during the course of the project. One ramp that connects from northbound Dan Ryan to eastbound Ida B. Wells was closed from the spring of 2014 to September 7, 2019. On the same day, the second lane of the flyover ramp, as well as the Morgan Street off-ramp, opened. Delays and increasing costs led to a final completion date of December 16, 2022, at which time all lanes and ramps were opened to motorists. The estimated final cost of the reconstruction was $804.6 million. IDOT stated they expected a 50% reduction in traffic delays as a result of the project's conclusion.


See also

* *


References


External links

{{Commons category, Jane M. Byrne Interchange, Jane Byrne Interchange
Official website
* The Chicago Sun-Time
Chicagopedia
Transportation in Chicago Interstate 90 Interstate 94 Road interchanges in the United States Expressways in the Chicago area