Roosevelt Road patching adds to commuting mess

Motorists hoping Roosevelt Road could provide an alternative to roadwork-ravaged I-355 and the Eisenhower Expressway may have to make other plans.

A three-quarter mile stretch of Roosevelt, between Route 53 and Finley Road in Glen Ellyn, was reduced to one lane in each direction this week as workers begin a patching and repair project that is expected to last until the end of May. It's part of a $1.2 million Illinois Department of Transportation contract awarded to Bensenville-based Acura Inc. in September 2009 to do road work at several sites throughout DuPage and Kane counties.

"We had this thing set up last year in October, but there was bridge work on Route 53 and IDOT instructed us to wait until now," said Imtiaz Ahmed, Acura's project manager. "I would say we'll be done by about May 20 if everything goes as planned."

Ahmed said about $250,000 to $300,000 of the total contract is being used to cover the three lane miles worth of work on Roosevelt Road.

"We are repairing bad cracks in the pavement and holes in the road," he said.

Currently, the inner lanes have been closed off. When the repair work is complete on those lanes, workers will make repairs to the outside lanes.

In addition to the Roosevelt Road closures, North Avenue was recently restricted between County Farm and Swift roads in Carol Stream and Glendale Heights. Acura is in charge of that project as well.

North Avenue was another alternate to avoid the interstate roadwork. The work there is also to repair cracks and potholes, but also traffic sensors are being installed. Two westbound North Avenue lanes and one eastbound lane will be closed through May 2 and then two eastbound lanes and one westbound lane will close from May 3 to May 16, officials said.

A 27-mile repaving project along the I-290 extension/Eisenhower Expressway and parts of I-355 in DuPage County is expected to last through autumn. Motorists seeking alternate east/west routes are running out of options. State transportation officials said they decided to do all the work at once to avoid burdening the system over several years with smaller projects.