The NASCAR Chicago Street Race is set to take over downtown this weekend, and with it comes more road closings for motorists to look out for.
City officials announced plans early last month to shut down some streets for the coming event, and dozens of routes already have been closed to allow infrastructure for the race to be set up.
Streets closed this weekend:
Other street closures include northbound Indiana Avenue from Roosevelt Road to 13th Street and at Post Place and Garvey Court at the entrances and exits of Lower Wacker Drive.
NASCAR aims to begin reopening streets Monday morning at 6 a.m., starting with DuSable Lake Shore Drive, Michigan Avenue, and Columbus Drive. All other streets that shut down for the races will gradually reopen as the track walls, fences and viewing structure get taken down between Monday and July 18.
Compared to last year's event, NASCAR and the city have trimmed course set-up and breakdown time to 19 days from 25 days. The goal was to minimize disruption to businesses and residents. Mufflers will again dampen noise on the race cars, which can reach speeds up to 100 mph on the Chicago course.
Despite those efforts, however, small businesses in the area had varying responses to NASCAR's return.
For the second time, Loop bookstore Exile in Bookville will close during NASCAR weekend. But a spokesperson for The Gage, an Irish restaurant at 24 S. Michigan Ave., told the Sun-Times it saw increased foot traffic last year. It expects the same this year — and has added NASCAR-themed menu items.
Contributing: Amy Yee
