12/18/2009 - Central and North Tri-State Tollway (I-94/I-294) Rebuild & Widening Projects Complete

Illinois Tollway Delivers Systemwide Rebuild & Widen Work on Schedule Relieving Congestion and Improving Mobility

DOWNERS GROVE, Ill. – The North and Central Tri-State Tollway (I-94/I-294) Rebuild & Widen Projects from Balmoral Avenue to the Wisconsin state line will be complete by Saturday morning, December 19, bringing in the Illinois Tollway’s systemwide Rebuild & Widen work on schedule and within budget. 

Work on the Tri-State between Balmoral Avenue and Dempster Street is already complete with four lanes in each direction open to traffic.  The final segments between Dempster Street and Lake Cook Road and between Half Day Road and Grand Avenue are scheduled to open to four lanes in each direction by Saturday morning, December 19, completing the corridor’s improvements.  Minor punch list work is scheduled to complete sewer work and install rumble strips during off-peak hours over the next few weeks.  Some weather-dependant work such as landscaping will resume in spring but will not impact traffic.

With the wrap up of work on the Tri-State Tollway, Illinois Tollway completes nearly $3 billion in work to reconstruct/rehabilitate and widen about 120 miles of roadway across the 286-mile system.  The improvements will result in a smoother ride for motorists and serve as an economic engine for Northern Illinois and are part of the Illinois Tollway’s $6.3 billion Congestion-Relief Program – Open Roads for a Faster Future.

“The completion of this four-year corridor-wide project between O’Hare International Airport and the Wisconsin state line will bring real congestion relief to commuters and long-distance travelers,” said Acting Executive Director Michael King.  “Coupled with similar improvements on the South Tri-State Tollway (I-294/I-80), drivers now have four lanes in each direction between Indiana to just south of the Wisconsin state line, reducing travel times for commuters and commercial vehicles alike.”

Completion of the corridor will provide congestion relief to commuters and distance travelers by replacing 50-year-old pavement and expanding the roadway by adding an additional lane in each direction, improving safety and mobility.  Average daily traffic volumes along the stretch have grown from a high of about 52,000 vehicles a day in 1970 to a high of more than 152,000 vehicles daily in 2008.

Budgeted at $1.34 billion the projects between Balmoral Avenue and the Wisconsin state line provides drivers on the corridor with four lanes in each direction between Balmoral Avenue and IL Route 173, including reconstruction of 12 interchange  and improvements to 64 bridges.  Overall on the more than 40-mile-long corridor, more than 1.3 million cubic yards of concrete and over 1 million tons of steel were used to construct the new pavement and bridges and more than 8 million cubic yards of earth were moved as part of this project.  On any given day, about 3,500 professional and construction staff were working on the corridor.

Work in the corridor began in fall 2006 in the northbound lanes between Balmoral Avenue and Dempster Street on the Central Tri-State; southbound work began in 2008.  Work in the section between Grand Avenue and the Wisconsin state line began in 2007 and was complete in 2008.  Work between Dempster Street and Lake Cook Road and between Half Day Road and Grand Avenue began with completion of the southbound lanes in 2008and northbound work completed in 2009.  

The Tri-State Tollway (I-94/I-294/I-80) Rebuild & Widen Project is part of the Tollway’s Congestion-Relief Program, Open Roads for a Faster Future, which will reduce 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.  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).

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