Chicago’s Museum Campus will close on Sunday, May 20 for the NATO summit, the United States Secret Service has confirmed. The Shedd Aquarium, Field Museum and Adler Planetarium will not be open to visitors that day. They will be open Saturday, but with limited parking. In addition, Lake Shore Drive will close on Saturday and Sunday between Balbo on the north and 39th Street on the south.
It’s part of the transportation and security plan released Friday by the Secret Service. The plan outlines airspace and waterway restrictions during the summit. It also includes street closures around The Art Institute and the Chicago Cultural Center. The Art Institute has said it would not close during the summit. Streets will also close around the Willis Tower. Parking restrictions, road closures, and public transit re-routes will go into effect around McCormick Place as early as Sunday, May 13.
The plan also calls for intermittent road closures along the Kennedy Expressway between downtown and O’Hare airport, the Dan Ryan between the Loop and the Stevenson Expressway, and on Ontario and Ohio Streets in the River North Neighborhood on May 20.
Chicago Tonight first reported the museum closures on Thursday when staff members from all three began telling patrons they would not open for the NATO summit.
Museum spokespeople would not confirm the closures, but said they’d issue a joint statement sometime next week. Local and federal security officials will address the closures in front of the media Friday evening.
View the street and highway closures in a map below, and see the Secret Service advisory for a full list of street closures:
