Design
The Circle is logically a turbine interchange, with each of the four mainlines having a single entrance and exit serving both directions of the crossing highway. It does not use the quadruple-decker architecture commonly associated with stack interchanges. Instead, it has a flattened layout, using the long, curving ramps to circumnavigate the crossing of the mainlines. This results in fewer tall bridges and gives the interchange its distinctive "circle" appearance.
Both I-90/94 and I-290/Congress Parkway have three lanes in each direction at the interchange. Each of the ramps leading to and from the expressways is one lane wide, except for the ramp from eastbound I-290 to eastbound (southbound) I-90/94; this ramp is two lanes wide.
The interchange centers on Congress Parkway (the east–west surface street that is the continuation of the Eisenhower Expressway beyond its terminus several blocks east of the interchange) and extends roughly from Halsted Street on the west to Jefferson Street on the east.
The tracks of the Chicago Transit Authority Blue Line 'L' train pass directly underneath the center of the interchange, running in an east-west direction, as they transition from surface operation in the median of the Eisenhower Expressway, to a subway to the east of the interchange. This complicates where support columns could be located in any future construction at the interchange.
Read more about this topic: Circle Interchange
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