City Council budget hearings took a detour at Chicago City Hall, as one alderman channeled the frustrations of thousands of people trying to drive through River North.
Right now, city workers are fixing bridges at Lake St., State St., Chicago St. and Grand Ave., at the same time that IDOT crews are rebuilding the Kennedy Expressway feeder ramp at Ohio.
And during CDOT budget hearings Wednesday morning, downtown Alderman Brendan Reilly told acting Transportation Commissioner Craig Turner that between those projects and pop-up utility projects on designated detours, callers to his office are complaining that it takes "an hour to get on the expressway!"
"In whose wisdom did we determine that it was appropriate to close so many east-west bridges at the same time?" asked Reilly (42nd Ward).
Turner tried to respond by saying the department was being "proactive," and that the projects had been approved and the funding secured: "There's no easy way to repair a bridge."
But later, when Turner said that coordination for those projects is done with the ward office, Reilly cut him off.
"Commissioner, with all due respect, I don't need a speech," said Reilly, who said he knows the importance of having safe bridges, but the department failed to adequately plan those projects.
"You were advised that taking all these bridges out of service at the same time was a bad idea," said Reilly.