CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- The City of Chicago will be raising the bridges Wednesday morning over the Chicago River for recreational boats to be brought from storage to the harbors. This is the second boat run of 2020.
Starting with the Ashland Avenue Bridge at 9:30 a.m., each of the 27 bridges along the river will be lifted to allow recreational boats to pass from the storage yards to harbors in Lake Michigan, the Chicago Department of Transportation said in a statement.
The bridges are lifted sequentially for about 8-to-12 minutes each, CDOT said. The boat run takes about four hours all together.
The final bridge lift at Lake Shore Drive could take up to 30 minutes due to construction, CDOT said.
The process will repeat itself at 9:30 a.m. every Wednesday and 8 a.m. every Sunday until the end of the boating season, CDOT said.
Harbors are open for what they are calling "staging." Boats can be put in slips, but the harbors are effectively still closed.
As we heard from Mayor Lightfoot last month, a popular gathering spot for boaters between Ohio Street and Oak Street will not be opening.
"I am sorry folks, the playpen is not going to be open this summer," she said.
Hundreds of boats are in the playpen tied together on normal summer weekends, weather permitting.
In other boating news, the Race to Mackinac - the 112th has been called off this year, making it only the second time the event has been canceled.