Was the epic, three-year Kennedy Expressway lane closure and rehabilitation project a smart, well-timed idea? Was there really enough of an emergency worth causing untold thousands of vehicles to sit in long delays, virtually round the clock? Our view: It was poorly timed from the beginning and — it turns out — also subject to unacceptable construction delays. On Tuesday, the Illinois Department of Transportation said that its planned fall reopening of the express lanes, which more recently had been moved to a planned “late fall” reopening, now won’t actually happen until the middle of January, only to close again just a few weeks later. If you think January qualifies as anyone’s “late fall,” we have a good deal on snowblowers for you. Illinois Transportation Secretary Omer Osman had some CYA blather for the media Tuesday about the reason for the delays, vis-a-vis reversible lanes that functioned fine for decades, which he said now were “highly technical” and requiring “time and effort behind the scenes.” He also said something about how “software integration” had caused problems. Ah yes, software integration. Give us a break. Integrating software always causes government bureaucrats problems — just look at the Cook County property tax bill debacle. We’re glad Elon Musk is planning on looking at such issues within the federal government; maybe he’ll have a helper free to take a look at the state of Illinois, too. The reality, of course, is that IDOT knew what needed to be done here at least three years ago and should have planned and executed accordingly so that the project met its deadline. Since it did not, Gov. JB Pritzker should haul in Osman and demand some answers and accountability. Frankly, if we owned a Loop business highly dependent on suburban patrons, we’d be demanding some sort of compensation. Or at least an apology from the state of Illinois. If there is one thing that rightly has drivers steamed, it’s how IDOT somehow managed to reopen the Kennedy reversible lane temporarily for the Democratic National Convention. Yes, IDOT, we all saw what you could do when the pressure was on. And that makes your delays even more infuriating, especially since a special express Metra train offering service from O’Hare airport to the Loop did not meet rider expectations, Metra has said. Why? Because delegates were directed onto buses and then onto those nice open express lanes, the likes of which ordinary Chicagoans have not seen in years, at least those of us who don’t travel in the middle of the night. Editorial cartoonist Scott Stantis on Kennedy construction for Wed, Dec 18, 2024. (Scott Stantis/for the Chicago Tribune). IDOT is now finding out that Kennedy drivers have not forgotten what magically happened in August and now are wondering if perchance it had anything to do with this latest blown deadline. We trust not. Let’s be clear, though, about the consequences for those who are not delegates to a political convention. The Kennedy has been an effective no-go zone if you planned on driving downtown for the evening to go out to eat, or see a show or concert (of course, paying your ever-increasing amusement taxes for the privilege). For years. This has meant leaving early to get someone from the airport and biting your nails over being on time for a perhaps crucial appointment. Many of the former alternate routes, such as Elston and Milwaukee avenues, have reduced their vehicular capacity by adding bike lanes. That’s great if you are a winter bike rider, and more power to those hardy folks, but those roads don’t offer any meaningful relief from a clogged expressway anymore. Few aldermen want to talk about that, but everyone who uses a car to get around town from time to time knows it’s true. And let’s talk for a moment about reopening in the middle of January. It’s no longer peak season for having fun in the Loop. What is the peak season, you ask? The answer is right now. You just missed it, IDOT. Right now, the Loop is packed with concerts, restaurants, ice skating, department stores, cozy hotels, hot toddy, “The Nutcracker,” the Harry Potter show. We could go on. New York, where it costs an arm and a leg for a Midtown Hampton Inn room, has outpriced itself for most regular folks seeking the traditional, all-American urban Christmas experience. Chicago had a golden opportunity to attract folks driving in from Minnesota or Wisconsin or Iowa. If only they could get here during the crucial-to-business holiday season. Why do road-building bureaucrats never seem to take that into consideration when they trot out their barriers and barrels and leave them there, seemingly ad infinitum? Our biggest complaint here, though, is that this entire project should have been put on hold for at least a year or two. Chicago had not (and hasn’t yet) recovered from the COVID-19 crisis when the work began, and making it tough to drive downtown for three years at a time (with ever-shorter winter breaks) simply was not worth the benefit of repainting, resurfacing, and improving “safety, traffic flow and reliability for the more than 275,000 motorists who use the expressway each day.” We know many other roads in worse condition. Habits were set in 2023 that have persisted. And let’s not forget that this work followed immediately upon the reconstruction of the Jane Addams Interchange, which clogged up the Kennedy for years even before that. A more functional IDOT would have got all that done during the pandemic when things were quiet. But massive delays persisted there, too. All costing untold millions of dollars. We don’t doubt that IDOT had its reasons. We acknowledge that road construction and repair is a business wherein ordinary drivers do not see or fully understand all the challenges. And we’re all for improving bridges and other infrastructure. But we know plenty of regular drivers on the Kennedy. All to a person have reported not much action, especially in the overnight hours, as well as long periods when the barrels were protecting pavement that looked perfectly fine. Very few Chicagoans believe that the Kennedy Expressway project was conducted with any deadline-driven urgency whatsoever. Kennedy problems, or at least the perception thereof, certainly helped bolster a lot of the growth this past couple of years in suburban business districts like those in the likes of Naperville, Glencoe, Wheaton and Aurora, as suburbanites and exurbanites looked beyond Chicago to avoid the Kennedy at all costs. Good for those suburbs for jumping on an opportunity. But Chicago got a “lanes closed, expect delays” warning for years — a handicap it most certainly did not need. Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here or email [email protected].