Commuters who have relied on 159th Street to avoid Bishop Ford Freeway construction will have another headache to deal with beginning Tuesday.
The Illinois Department of Transportation on Thursday announced that 159th Street between Park Avenue and West/Center Avenue in Harvey will be closed from Sept. 8 through May 2011.
Eastbound motorists will be detoured north on Dixie Highway, east on Sibley Boulevard and south on Halsted Street. Westbound motorists will follow the same routes in the opposite direction.
“We do apologize for any inconvenience this may cause motorists, but in the long run the road improvements will make a big difference,” IDOT Region 1 Engineer Diane O’Keefe said in a news release.
During the closure, work crews will replace a viaduct that carries Metra and Canadian National Railroad rail traffic over 159th Street.
The project — to reconstruct the viaduct creating two lanes in each direction under the railroad with left turn lanes — will cost about $38.4 million dollars.
The Harvey project is the latest stage in improvements to 159th Street, which is under construction from the Tri-State Tollway to Halsted Street in Harvey and Markham.
Costing about $17.8 million — which has come from federal monies — the project will relieve congestion and reduce travel times along 159th Street between the Tri-State Tollway and the Bishop Ford Freeway.
Among the improvements are better drainage, new concrete pavement, two through lanes in each direction, new medians, and dual left turn lanes between the Tri-State and Halsted Street, improved lighting and synchronized traffic signals.
You can find more information on both projects here.