Prepare your alternate Edens routes

Drivers who take the Edens Expressway should start planning alternate routes as traffic-choking construction is set to start this weekend.

Beginning Friday at about 10 p.m., crews are set to shut down the Edens' right lanes in both directions for 8-mile stretches between Lawrence Avenue and Lake Cook Road.

Additionally, only one lane will be open overnight from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. between Sunday and Thursday.

The closures are scheduled to be lifted on Nov. 4.

Transportation officials warn that a 45 mph construction speed zone will be in effect on the Edens every day and that cameras and state troopers will be enforcing the new lower limit.

In addition to significant backups on the Edens, drivers heading north on the Kennedy from downtown Chicago may experience related congestion.

Alternate routes include U.S. 41, U.S. 45 and U.S. 12. Metra lines in the area include the UP North Line to Kenosha, North Central Service to Antioch and the Milwaukee District North Line to Fox Lake.

Taking the Tri-State Tollway and Kennedy Expressway can also be alternate routes, but both can also be very jammed during rush hour.

Visit www.rtachicago.com or call 836-7000 from any regional area code for more transit information. Visit www.gcmtravel.com for real-time traffic information.

The Edens' work is part of a $42 million plan to rehabilitate the Edens, which was first built nearly 30 years ago. The project will extend into next spring and summer when crews resurface the 14-mile interstate and conduct bridge patching.