CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- It was 210 years ago Wednesday, that Mexico declared independence from Spain, and as is tradition, people were cruising downtown and the near Southwest Side on Tuesday night to celebrate.
But this year, the city shut down a number of streets downtown and in the Little Village neighborhood due to the Mexican Independence Day traffic. The closures were in the area of Michigan Avenue and Wacker Drive, the Office of Emergency Management and Communications said in a tweet Tuesday night.
People proudly waved Mexican flags from their vehicles. They honked their horns and shouted "Viva Mexico!" They also caused huge traffic jams, especially on Michigan Avenue.
Witnesses saw Chicago police blocking southbound on Michigan Avenue at Ohio Street. Most exits into the downtown area from Lake Shore Drive were also shut down, but bridges weren’t raised.
Although bridges weren’t raised, police had travel downtown restricted.
A CBS 2 reporter tweeted video of a red pickup truck appearing to try to get out of the Michigan Avenue traffic back-up and speedily turning a corner, hitting a bus stop enclosure and injuring a woman in her 60s.
Marissa Parra tweeted that two young women fashioned a tourniquet out of a Mexican flag they were carrying, and paramedics took her to the hospital.
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Closures extended into Little Village on the Southwest Side. 26th Street was closed between Sacramento and Kedzie.
One Little Village resident said it was the first time he’d seen streets shutdown for the celebration. He said people were just cruising, beeping, and shouting "Viva Mexico!"