Chicago limits Loop access for 2nd night after looting
A Best Buy store near North and Clybourn was looted overnight.
CHICAGO - In an effort to prevent another night of looting downtown, Chicago will limit access to the Loop starting at 9 p.m. Tuesday by raising bridges, shutting down parts of Lake Shore Drive and closing expressway ramps.
The restrictions, which last until 6 a.m. Wednesday, are not a curfew, according to the Office of Emergency Management and Communication, but instead an “all-hands-on-deck” response to civil unrest early Monday following the police shooting of a man in Englewood.
Monday night, downtown restrictions were in effect an hour earlier at 8 p.m.
The restrictions include:
- Lake Shore Drive closed between Fullerton Avenue and I-55;
- All downtown bridges will be raised expect: LaSalle, Harrison, Ida B. Wells, Lake Shore Drive, Columbus, Kinzie and Grand;
- CTA rail service will not stop downtown from Fullerton to 47th Street, and trains east of Halsted Street;
- Bus service remains open, but may be affected by bridge closures;
- Kennedy/Dan Ryan Expressway ramps closed from Cermak to Division;
- Northbound Stevenson Expressway ramp to northbound Lake Shore Drive closed;
- Eastbound Eisenhower Expressway closed at Ida B. Wells Drive;
- Divvy service will be shut down between North, Ashland and Cermak.
“Access points,” manned by Chicago police, are for residents and workers, located at:
- Harrison Street
- Chicago Avenue and Halsted Street
- Roosevelt Road and Canal Street
- Kinzie Street and Halsted Street
- LaSalle Street
The city also announced that more than 100 municipal trucks will be stationed in commercial corridors, including in surrounding neighborhoods, as a deterrent.