Last week, the city of Chicago put up concrete barricades on Waveland and Sheffield Avenues adjacent to Wrigley Field in order to begin preparatory work that will be needed for the Wrigley expansion project, which is expected to begin when the 2014 baseball season ends.
Actual work is going to begin soon on Sheffield, as detailed in this email sent by the Cubs to people in the neighborhood surrounding the ballpark:
Today, crews will begin relocating underground public works and utility infrastructure in preparation for the renovation and expansion of Wrigley Field. The City of Chicago Department of Water Management, Peoples Gas and Commonwealth Edison will be performing work to relocate underground water, sewer and gas lines. This work will take place under the street and the parkway on the east side of Sheffield Avenue. Sheffield Avenue will be completely closed from Thursday (8/28) through Sunday (8/31) for excavation and installation of a new main and service to the residences and businesses. Beginning Tuesday, September 2, the parkway and east lane of traffic will be closed from 8 am until two hours prior to the start of each Wrigley Field event. CDOT will allow work to proceed on game days but all work, equipment and personnel will be off site a minimum of two hours prior to the start of each Wrigley Field event. The utility companies do not anticipate any major service disruptions. If there are disruptions to service, the utility companies will attempt to contact property owners directly.
Over the last few years, Sheffield and Waveland have been closed to traffic (except for buses dropping people off and emergency vehicles) about two hours before every game. Closures before that on game days could cause some issues for traffic in the neighborhood. These closures might also affect the load-in and load-out for the Zac Brown Band concert scheduled for Wrigley September 13.
But things are happening, and if you're around Wrigley during the homestand beginning September 2, you'll definitely notice.