City Hall is pictured. [Don Vincent/The Daily Line]

The City Council Committee on Pedestrian and Traffic Safety on Tuesday will hold a first-of-its-kind public hearing on an upcoming bridge closure in Jefferson Park under an ordinance approved about two months ago.

The committee will meet at 12:30 p.m. in Room 201A at City Hall.

Alderpeople will hear a presentation from Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT) officials on the upcoming closure of the pedestrian bridge that runs over the Kennedy Expressway and Chicago Transit Authority Blue Line tracks to connect people between the 6000 block of North Avondale Avenue and the Gladstone Park Metra station. 

The hearing is mandated through an ordinance (SO2025-0021022) from Ald. Brian Hopkins (2) that requires a CDOT presentation ahead of planned bridge improvement, repair or maintenance work that’ll lead to a closure longer than 30 days. 

Under the ordinance, approved by the council in February, CDOT must attend a pedestrian and traffic safety committee hearing at least 30 days prior to the start of a lengthy bridge closure. At the hearing, CDOT must present a project schedule, estimated closure timeline and a detailed traffic congestion mitigation plan.  

The traffic mitigation plan must include various measures expected to be used to mitigate congestion, such as designated detour routes, signal timing changes, traffic control aide deployment, parking restrictions or a temporary pause in other non-emergency work. 

Hopkins’ ordinance exempted necessary emergency work from the hearing requirement, although CDOT still must notify alderpeople within 24 hours of emergency work beginning.

CDOT did not respond to questions ahead of the meeting about what kind of work would be performed on the bridge and how long the bridge would be closed.