Chicago Street Closures for Barack Obama Election Night Celebration Party in Grant Park
The Barack Obama Celebration Party in Grant Park downtown in Chicago will be massive. Millions of people want to attend and assuming Barack Wins, (which a lot of media outlet polls are predicting) the celebrating will be unbelievable. I wish Chicago had more genuine achievements to celebrate like this more often. Anyway, I can’t predict the outcome so no one really will know until tomorrow night. What we do know for sure is that in lieu of the Barack Obama Election Night Celebration spilling over the limit of those who have tickets there will be people everywhere downtown in the Chicago loop near Grant Park. This means a lot of street closures and parking bans in order to mange this massive event. I have been trying to find out the best info on where the streets are going to be closed and the times and days affected.
These Notify Chicago Alerts that the city set up (and annoyingly requires you to change your password for every 60 days – grrr) have been sending me emails about the street closures and parking bans on Tuesday downtown for the last few days. Apparently the Chicago Office of Emergency Management and Communications has a plan that they email out and it links me back to their home page without a link to the actual street closures list. (Grrr again – come on guys, get it right at least some of the time.) After hunting around for a while I found out that the security looks like it will be tight and I am glad to see that there will be additional CTA service and a lot of police presence to maintain order downtown. Here is the actual list from the City here it is in it’s entirety: (click map to view full size)
From the City of Chicago Website:
“ The following are some of the parking restrictions, street closures and event guidelines that will be in place starting as early as Monday, November 3rd.
PARKING BANS:
Parking bans will be in effect from Lake Michigan to the Kennedy/Dan Ryan Expressway, and from the River on the North to 22nd Street on the South Tuesday, November 4th after the PM rush hour. Residents should pay special attention to new posted signs.
STREET CLOSURES:
On Saturday, November 1, 2008, Balbo will be closed between Columbus and Lake Shore Drive. After the November 3rd AM rush hour, Columbus will be closed between Congress and Roosevelt. After the PM rush hour, the closure will extend as far north as Randolph. Residents may see additional rolling closures throughout the Central Business District from Tuesday afternoon thru Wednesday morning.
PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION:
The Chicago Transit Authority will provide additional service and extend the hours of select bus and rail routes serving the Loop until 2 a.m. for individuals attending election night events downtown (yes!)- including the Obama Grant Park rally – on Tuesday, November 4. CTA will operate longer trains; provide additional bus service and later service to accommodate attendees. Temporary street closures in the vicinity of Grant Park may necessitate reroutes so customers should allow extra travel time. In addition, due to potentially crowded conditions, bicycles will not be allowed on the rail system after 4:00 p.m. Tuesday until 4:00 a.m. Wednesday morning. (bummer)
MEDIA PARKING:
Event organizers are coordinating media parking inside Hutchinson Field. For security reasons, media parking outside of Hutchinson Field around Grant Park will also be heavily restricted. Media can stage satellite trucks on Michigan Avenue between Roosevelt to Cermak. Maintaining compliance with all other parking regulations. Additionally, media staging is available in front of the Hyatt Hotel, 151 East Wacker on the south curb lane.
HUTCHINSON FIELD:
The November 4th event in Hutchinson Field is a ticketed event hosted by the Obama Campaign. The site opens at 8:30 p.m. and ticketed residents have been asked to enter through either East Congress Parkway or East Jackson. Everyone coming into Hutchinson Field will be screened by event organizers and they have asked that residents refrain from bringing any bags, coolers, bottles, chairs, signs, banners or strollers into the park. For more information on the event in Hutchinson Field, contact the Obama Campaign
For details about all CTA service call 836-7000 (all local area codes) or visit the CTA web site at transitchicago.com to use the travel planner feature. “