After more than a year of major congestion, lane closures and traffic bottlenecks in and out of downtown Chicago from the Kennedy Expressway, two major connecting ramps from the Kennedy to River North are finally set to reopen.

Lanes on the Ohio and Ontario Street feeder bridges, which bring Kennedy drivers into the city at Ohio and out of the city at Ontario, started reopening with three lanes each Thursday morning, according to the Illinois Department of Transportation. That’s up from the narrow two that has caused major traffic headaches since Nov. 2024.

As of 5:30 a.m. Thursday, IDOT was still working to finish its final overnight “punch list” for the Ohio Street bridge going east, NBC 5 traffic reporter Kye Martin said. By 6 a.m., things were clear, with new pavement markings set and traffic barricades removed.

“Haven’t been able to say that since November 2024,” Martin said.

Thursday night, Ontario street will be closed from Orleans to the Kennedy Expressway in order to finish final work westbound. By 5 a.m. Friday, the Ontario Street feeder to the outbound Kennedy was expected to fully reopen, IDOT said.

The end of the construction means drivers on Thursday will have three lanes eastbound on Ohio open from the Kennedy to Orleans. Friday morning, three lanes open westbound on Ontario between Orleans and the Kennedy.

“This will ease the bottleneck that was caused by having only 2 lanes and off-peak closures during the duration of this effort,” Martin said.

“The public can expect delays and should allow extra time for trips through this area,” IDOT said, as the closures come to an end and reopening begins. “Alternate routes are encouraged. Drivers are urged to pay close attention to flaggers and signs in the work zones, obey the posted speed limits and be on the alert for workers and equipment.”

The $15.4 million project “replaced bridge expansion joints, structural steel and deck repairs along with the installation of a new deck overlay and resurfacing on the elevated bridges,” IDOT said. It was a separate project from the three-year rehabilitation of the Kennedy Expressway that concluded last fall.

As the highly anticipated reopening comes, more work on the bridges is still needed, IDOT said, with concrete paving patching to repair both ramps to each bridge set to occur later this summer. That work will require a “full closure” over three weekends, alternating between Ohio and Ontario streets between the Kennedy and Orleans.

• Less than 100 people gathered at the Ohio Statehouse to protest a bill that would criminalize certain drag shows.

Less than 100 protesters gathered at the Ohio Statehouse on May 27 to protest legislation that would criminalize certain drag shows.

Individual organizers, as well as Ohio 50501 and Ohio Equal Rights, organized the demonstration, said Logan Moon, one of the organizers. Some of the attendees were dressed in drag and donned bright colored face paint, colorful clothing, and high heels as requested in the protest announcement. One of the attendees also had a drum.

As with other protests in Columbus, members of the Columbus Division of Police Dialogue Team stayed on the periphery of the demonstration. Troopers from the Ohio State Highway Patrol also watched from a distance as one of the organizers led chants criticizing state lawmakers.

The protest was in response to Ohio House Bill 249, which would criminalize certain drag performances anywhere but adult entertainment facilities if they’re deemed obscene or harmful to children. It also changes the definition of public indecency, with an exception for women who are breastfeeding.

The Ohio House voted to pass the legislation 63-30 on March 25. It is now before the Ohio Senate, where no hearings have been scheduled yet. Republicans control both chambers of the General Assembly.

Moon, 24, said Ohio HB 249, and hundreds of other bills throughout the country targeting transgender people, are an example of “genocide” against trans people in the country.

Moon said she was disappointed by the low turnout at the May 27 protest, saying it was an example of the apathy of the general public.

After one of the organizers led a series of chants, protesters marched at least once around the Ohio Statehouse. There were no counterprotesters in attendance.

Reporter Shahid Meighan can be reached at smeighan@dispatch.com, at ShahidMeighan on X, and at shahidthereporter.dispatch.com on Bluesky.