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290 commuters discover road wrath in 2-hour drives

Motorists were warned: Come April 1, the Eisenhower Expressway was going to be a traffic nightmare of apocalyptic proportions.

But when that day arrived, many found their daily commute actually easier than in the days preceding.

"It had actually been better than I expected," said Pete Page, who normally commutes an hour from his home in Carpentersville to his job on the South Side of Chicago.

Late last week, though, "I saw what they were talking about, and the reality is setting in."

It was no April Fool's joke. By Friday morning, a lane in each direction of the Eisenhower had been blocked off by construction crews; motorists who at first thought the 27-mile repaving project wasn't going to be so bad now knew it was.

Drivers reported nearly two-hour commutes from the West Loop to Wheaton, an hour and a half from Arlington Heights to Addison and an hour-plus getting from Bartlett to Hillside. One of almost two hours, from Lincoln Park to Aurora, was reported - on Saturday.

This marks the first full week of what the Ike and the I-290 extension will be like for at least 30 more weeks.

"It's normally 20 to 25 minutes to get to work," said Austin Thornton, who lives in Arlington Heights and works in Addison. "Now it's up to an hour and 15 minutes. I'm not sure what they're doing because I haven't seen any work, just the cones have been put up."

Illinois Department of Transportation officials said the public has been understanding of the commute complications created by the construction efforts "so far."

"What people need to understand is construction is very fluid and we are extremely dependent on the weather," IDOT spokeswoman Marisa Kollias said. "And we're talking about 27 miles worth of work that should be done this fall."

She said motorists seem willing to take the inconvenience of intense roadwork for the rest of the year in lieu of it being spread out over several years.

"It will be worth it in the end," Kollias said.

However, some believe the bloom may fall off that rose rather quickly because it's not just the Eisenhower getting a makeover, but several other projects are attached. Those projects include repaving parts of I-355 between the Eisenhower and Army Trail Road, reconstruction of the Congress Parkway bridge, rebuilding parts of both levels of Wacker Drive and improvements to Congress Parkway from the bridge to Grant Park. Some of those projects are expected to take up to three years to complete.

"It's kind of bad planning since they've closed all those things down at once," said Bart Shore, WBBM NewsRadio 780's traffic guru for the past decade. "There's a lot of things going on at the same time and there's not much we can do about it except complain."

Shore said he started seeing major commuting delays along the Eisenhower late last week when crews began blocking off lanes from Wolf Road into the city. But the worst may be yet to come.

"When they start working on the bridge, that's when we're going to see the worst," he predicted. "When that happens, it's going to be really bad. It's going to tough and it's also going to be very tight."

Kollias said transportation officials from the tollway, state and Chicago agreed that having all the projects coincide would be best to limit the impact on motorists to the three years rather than possibly stretched out for more than a decade.

"We've been working on this one big project, otherwise it would take forever," she said.

Shore said motorists can expect increased traffic on arterial roads adjacent to the Eisenhower while the work goes on.

"It's no secret that North Avenue, Cermak Road and Roosevelt Road are alternates to the Ike and they will certainly see an increase," he said.

Shore suggested motorists try to find alternate routes that may take a little longer than normal, but provide smoother travels without the construction dangers that exist along the Eisenhower.

Page said he's tried two different alternate routes so far, and they haven't worked to his liking.

"I'm on Option C," he said, "but I just don't know what that is yet."

Illinois Department of Transportation officials say motorists will have to endure major congestion on the Eisenhower Expressway for six or seven months instead of dealing with minor snarls for several years. Scott Sanders | Staff Photographer

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<h1>More Coverage</h1>

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<h2>Stories</h2>

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<li><a href="/story/?id=372767">Julie Mann: 290 work? 'See you on the train' <span class="date">[04/13/10]</span></a></li>

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<h2>Related documents</h2>

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<li><a href="/pdf/majorroadwork.pdf">Map of area projects </a></li>

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