road closure at 107th and Prospect - update

 In case you haven't been that way recently, there is a road closure at the intersection of 107th and Prospect for utility work. It looks like a Water Dept. project and is likely to take a while, depending on weather. 

There's detour signage in SOME places, but they neglected to put any on southbound Prospect. Some geniuses driving south on Prospect decided it was okay to drive across a couple of lawns to go from Prospect to westbound 107th. Who does that? 

I would encourage you to contact the ward office and demand that detour signage be put in place on southbound Prospect.  Here's a link.

I'm not sure if eastbound 107th needs detour signage between Longwood and Prospect, as I haven't gone that way since the construction started. If you're familiar with current conditions there and can confirm that there is no detour signage for eastbound traffic, please leave a comment, and please tell the ward office that this is NOT acceptable. East Beverly and Morgan Park deserve the same level of service as the rest of the ward. 

railroad crossing construction/closures

 

99th St. from Longwood to Damen will be closed to traffic 2/22- 2/24

99th St. will be closed to traffic from Friday 2/22 to Sunday 2/24 for a utility project. Click here for more info.

95th St. railroad crossing construction/detour

I was trying to get to Oak Lawn this afternooon and made an annoying discovery. The railroad crossing at 2600 W. 95th St. is under construction, requiring a detour. Not sure of the planned completion date, but they've usually been finishing these within 1-2 weeks. Since they just finished doing the same thing on 87th St., I'm guessing they just started this one.

103rd St. detour

Starting on Wed. 4/16, 103rd St. will be closed from California to Kedzie while CSX Railroad replaces the crossing at Sacramento. Work should take a week, and the street should be re-opened to traffic on Wed. 4/23.

Metra construction alert - Sunday 10/6

News from Metra:

In order to remove two bridges, the Rock Island Line will be closed north of the Gresham Station on Sunday Oct. 6, and there will be no service to and from the LaSalle Street and 35th Street stations during the shutdown. Access to and from downtown will be provided via a transfer to extra Metra Electric Line service at Blue Island-Vermont Street.

Passengers south of Blue Island who are traveling downtown can take inbound Rock Island trains to Blue Island and transfer to the Metra Electric Line's Blue Island branch, where special trains will take them inbound to the 18th St., Museum Campus, Van Buren and Millennium stations. The special Metra Electric trains also will make the reverse trip to Blue Island from Millennium Station.

Passengers north of Blue Island - those who normally board at Gresham or at stations along the Rock Island's Beverly branch - can travel downtown by riding outbound Rock Island trains south to Blue Island and transferring to the special inbound Metra Electric trains north to Millennium. They will have to make the reverse trip on the special outbound Metra Electric trains to Blue Island and then on regular inbound Rock Island Beverly branch trains north to their destination. Riders will be charged the normal fare for their zone to downtown and back.

For a full schedule for Sunday, click here.

Regular Sunday service on the Rock Island Line will resume with the 6:25 p.m. departure from Joliet, arriving at LaSalle Street at 7:49 p.m., and the 6:30 p.m. departure from LaSalle Street, arriving in Joliet at 7:55 p.m.

About 1,800 inbound passengers and about 1,000 outbound passengers normally ride on the affected Sunday trains on the Rock Island Line. Metra apologizes for the inconvenience but it was determined the temporary closures were the best option for carrying out the work.

The two bridges at 60th and 66th streets are being removed and the viaducts filled in as part of the Englewood flyover bridge project. The flyover is a new bridge that will carry the Metra Rock Island tracks over a set of tracks used by Amtrak and freight trains at 63rd and State, eliminating conflicts between trains and cutting pollution and noise from idling trains. Closing the streets and filling the viaducts provided design flexibility and cost savings compared to replacing the viaduct structures on the new track work alignments.

Metra construction alert - Sun. 9/22

News from Metra:

In order to remove two bridges, the Rock Island Line will be closed north of the Gresham Station on two Sundays, Sept. 22 and Oct. 6, and there will be no service to and from the LaSalle Street and 35th Street stations during the shutdowns. Access to and from downtown will be provided via a transfer to extra Metra Electric Line service at Blue Island-Vermont Street.

Passengers south of Blue Island who are traveling downtown can take inbound Rock Island trains to Blue Island and transfer to the Metra Electric Line's Blue Island branch, where special trains will take them inbound to the 18th St., Museum Campus, Van Buren and Millennium stations. The special Metra Electric trains also will make the reverse trip to Blue Island from Millennium Station.

Passengers north of Blue Island - those who normally board at Gresham or at stations along the Rock Island's Beverly branch - can travel downtown by riding outbound Rock Island trains south to Blue Island and transferring to the special inbound Metra Electric trains north to Millennium. They will have to make the reverse trip on the special outbound Metra Electric trains to Blue Island and then on regular inbound Rock Island Beverly branch trains north to their destination. Riders will be charged the normal fare for their zone to downtown and back.

For a full schedule for these two Sundays, click here.

Regular Sunday service on the Rock Island Line will resume with the 6:25 p.m. departure from Joliet, arriving at LaSalle Street at 7:49 p.m., and the 6:30 p.m. departure from LaSalle Street, arriving in Joliet at 7:55 p.m.

About 1,800 inbound passengers and about 1,000 outbound passengers normally ride on the affected Sunday trains on the Rock Island Line. Metra apologizes for the inconvenience but it was determined the temporary closures were the best option for carrying out the work.

The two bridges at 60th and 66th streets are being removed and the viaducts filled in as part of the Englewood flyover bridge project. The flyover is a new bridge that will carry the Metra Rock Island tracks over a set of tracks used by Amtrak and freight trains at 63rd and State, eliminating conflicts between trains and cutting pollution and noise from idling trains. Closing the streets and filling the viaducts provided design flexibility and cost savings compared to replacing the viaduct structures on the new track work alignments.

Longwood Drive construction update

Longwood has been reopened to traffic.

water main breaks in the neighborhood and Longwood detour

5/23 UPDATE:  As of 6:00 p.m., the 9600 block of Longwood was still closed to traffic.

This morning (5/22) when I turned on the tap, the water pressure seemed a bit off.  Later in the morning, I got an email from our alderman explaining why.

Last night's storm caused the Roseland pumping station to temporarily shut down.  When service was restored, the resulting water pressure caused several water mains in the Beverly / Morgan Park community to break.  As a result, several thousand area residents awoke to either no water service or low pressure.
Currently, crews from the Department of Water Management are addressing damage at the following five locations:

- 8800 block of S. Longwood Dr.
- 9500 block of S. Hoyne Ave.
- 1900 block of W. 95th St.
- 10500 block of S. Seeley Ave.
- 1700 block of W. 105th Pl.

The Department of Water Management will coordinate efforts with the other utilities and make the necessary repairs as quickly as possible.  

UPDATE:   Crews from the City's Department of Water Management have been working since late last night to repair several broken water mains in the Beverly community. Currently, three of the original five breaks have been repaired.  Work is near completion at 88th & Longwood Dr. & 105th & Seeley Ave.  The Department of Water Management estimates completing these repairs with water restored by 7:00 pm this evening.

During the course of the day, a sixth break was discovered in the 1700 block of W. 99th St.  Repair work at this location will begin tomorrow.
In addition to the locations listed above, I noticed this on my way home from the 95th St. Metra station.

Water Management is currently excavating on Longwood Dr. just south of 96th. Longwood is CLOSED to traffic between 96th and 97th. Due to equipment and materials currently stored on 96th around the corner, turning to or from 96th is difficult. You may want to avoid the intersection of 96th and Longwood until this project is completed.