More Byrne Interchange lane closings start Friday morning

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Several more lane closings on the Jane Byrne Interchange will go into effect Friday morning for the new flyover project.

MORE: Full details on Jane Byrne Interchange project

If you use the inbound Dan Ryan to get to the Eisenhower Expressway or downtown, you will eventually take the new flyover ramp, which is expected to be finished next summer. The new ramp will be about one mile in length.

When you get to the top of the ramp, it will split in two directions: the left lanes will head to the Ike, and the right to Congress Parkway. But for now, you'll have to endure traffic changes, especially Friday morning.

"We are telling motorists to start early, plan ahead. Know that it's going to be a headache, but in the end it's going to be an improvement," said Carson Quinn, IDOT spokesperson.

By 5 a.m. Friday, the ramp from the inbound Dan Ryan to inbound Congress Parkway will be closed. There will be a detour: motorists can exit Roosevelt Road, and then zig zag down Jefferson, to Harrison, to Wells.

"Travel times are going to be heightened. We do see that over the next couple of weeks it will normalize," Quinn said.

Also beginning at 5 a.m. Friday, the inbound and outbound Stevenson Expressway ramps to the Dan Ryan will be reduced to one lane.

The Jane Byrne Interchange has been labeled one of the worst traffic bottlenecks in the country. It's going to get worse before it gets better. But officials said the project is expected to improve efficiency, traffic flow, safety and reduce delays by about 50 percent.

"About 400,000 cars go through the interchange every day. About 35,000 of those will go over the flyover when it's completed in summer of 2016," Quinn said.

The closures will be in effect until the $475 million project is finished.