 | 10/22/2009 Westbound Veterans Memorial Tollway (I-355) Resurface & Widen Project
Completion Brings New Lanes and Smooth Pavement
4 New Southbound Lanes to Open by Saturday Morning;
Northbound Work Completed at 75th Street Interchange
DOWNERS GROVE, Ill. – Drivers on the southbound Veterans Memorial Tollway (I-355) will see congestion relief this weekend with the opening of the newly completed fourth lane and smooth new pavement as the Illinois Tollway’s I-355 Resurface & Widen Project between Ogden Avenue and 75th Street is completed on schedule and on budget. Work in 2009 has included resurfacing the three original lanes and adding a new southbound lane as well as completing work on the northbound lanes at the 75th Street Interchange. Northbound work was completed and opened to traffic in late 2008 from north of the 75th Street Interchange to Ogden Avenue.
Overnight lane closures are scheduled on Friday, October 23, to complete permanent pavement striping southbound between Ogden Avenue and 75th Street and northbound at the 75th Street Interchange. The new fourth lanes are scheduled to open by 5 a.m. on Saturday, October 24.
Work on the 4-mile-long project began in 2008 as part of the Illinois Tollway’s $6.3 billion Congestion-Relief Program – Open Roads for a Faster Future. Budgeted at $60.4 million the project will provide congestion relief on the 20-year-old roadway through the widening from six to eight lanes, improve safety and mobility throughout the corridor, and improve the pavement riding surface to extend the life of the pavement.
Veterans Memorial Tollway (I-355) Resurface & Widen Project
The Resurface & Widen Project included resurfacing the existing roadway originally opened in 1989 with a 4-inch asphalt overlay and construction of a new fourth lane in each direction from Ogden Avenue to 75th Street to accommodate increased traffic, due in part to the completion of the I-355 South Extension from I-55 to I-80 in 2007. Average daily traffic along the segment of roadway has grown from about 110,000 vehicles daily in 2007 to as high as 136,000 daily vehicles in 2008.
The project also included resurfacing ramps at the Ogden Avenue, Maple Avenue, 63rd Street, and 75th Street interchanges; and bridge decks on I-355 over the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad, Jackson Drive, and over Hitchcock Drive were widened. The I-355 Resurface & Widen Project and associated bridge work included approximately 112,000 tons of asphalt, 180,000 tons of aggregate base, and 320,000 pounds of steel rebar. These are the first major repairs completed on the original roadway.
Part of Tollway’s Congestion-Relief Program
The Veterans Memorial Tollway (I-355) Resurface & Widen Project is part of the Tollway’s Congestion-Relief Program, Open Roads for a Faster Future, which is reducing travel times by rebuilding/restoring nearly the entire system, widening/adding lanes to many miles of existing roads, converting 20 mainline toll plazas to barrier-free Open Road Tolling, and extending I-355 south to I-80 in Will County. By the end of 2009 the Illinois Tollway will complete nearly $3 billion in work to reconstruct/rehabilitate and widen about 120 miles of roadway across the 286-mile system. These improvements on the Tollway’s roads will result in a smoother ride for motorists and serve as an economic engine for Northern Illinois.
About the Illinois Tollway
The Illinois Tollway maintains and operates 286 miles of interstate tollways in 12 counties in Northern Illinois, including the Reagan Memorial Tollway (I-88), the Veterans Memorial Tollway (I-355), the Jane Addams Memorial Tollway (I-90) and the Tri-State Tollway (I-94, I-294, I-80). Tollway customers save time and money with I-PASS electronic toll collection - Get I-PASS & Get Going!
All Work Is Weather Dependent.
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