City Announces More Road Closures, Other NATO Traffic Updates
The footprint of road closures related to the NATO Summit continues to grow.
Saturday afternoon, Chicago’s Office of Emergency Management & Communication (OEMC) announced Columbus Drive would be closed from the Chicago River at Wacker Drive to Illinois Street “until further notice.”
The two block stretch is about a block east of Michigan Ave. and two blocks west of Lake Shore Drive.
A few hours later, OEMC announced temporary extension of the closure on Lake Shore Drive on Sunday.
On Sunday, the LSD closure will extend another mile and a half to Grand Ave. from 4 PM to 11 PM. After 11, the closure will revert back to its original length which has Lake Shore Drive closed from Balbo to 39th Street.
After 11 p.m. the original closure from Balbo to 39th Street will be back in effect.
Wrigleyville Feels NATO Security Squeeze
Earlier in the evening, due to fears of protesters, streets adjacent to Wrigley Field were closed because NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen threw out the first pitch for Saturday’s Crosstown Classic between the Cubs and White Sox according to NBC 5 News.
Traffic Light
Beyond a handful of rolling closures of 90/94 to accommodate attendees coming to the international summit from O’Hare Airport, reports have been that traffic has been relatively light.
The Sun-Times reports downtown Chicago is essentially a ghost town compared to normally busy Saturday pedestrian and car volume.
Protestor Hit By Police Van
During a protest Saturday evening, a male protester standing in the street at Michigan Ave. and Wacker Drive, attempted to stop a police van from getting to its destination and was hit and injured in the incident (see video above).
He suffered injuries, is not in critical condition at a hospital and handcuffed because he was arrested for his actions according to Twitchy.com.
GEEK TIP: As I tell my 5-year old, don’t stand in the street or you may get hit by a car and have to go to the hospital. My 5-year old understands this simple, common sense advice.
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DONT CLICK THROUGH ON “attempted to stop a police van ” LINK.
THERE IS A VIRUS!!!!!
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Geek, your info is incorrect. The protester jumped on the police van and at some point, fell off. Stupid protestors yelled that the van hit him. He’s a dumbass, not a traffic accident.
Mike,
My description was deliberately under-descriptive as I was trying to restrain my personal opinion in the post.
Of course he’s a DUMBASS!! Of course he jumped in front of the police van–he’s a f-ing moron. Most of those protesters are morons.
If you try to violently assault a police officer, you SHOULD get your skull cracked open with a police baton. I call it education.
The sad thing for the legitimate peaceful protestors (despite my disagreement with them) is that the violent assholes mess it up for the peaceful protestors who want to use their 1st Amendment rights to air their grievances.