Spring into I-90 roadwork

Drivers using the Jane Addams Tollway between Belvidere and Hoffman Estates can look forward to more quality time in their cars as a major construction project starts next week.

The Illinois State Toll Highway Authority will resurface 27 miles of I-90 from Genoa Road to Route 20 near the Belvidere oasis and from the Elgin toll plaza to Barrington Road.

The $65 million project includes rehabbing 25 bridges and will be completed by the end of the year.

Tollway officials expect to keep all lanes open during rush hour with some closures at nonpeak times.

Fixing this western stretch of I-90 addresses some issues along the Jane Addams, which opened in 1958, but other pressing needs remain.

Tollway directors are contemplating whether to undertake a more ambitious project to widen and rebuild the remaining segments of I-90 between Rockford and the Kennedy Expressway. Such a plan would cost between $1.9 billion and $4.5 billion. The price varies greatly depending on when the work is done, whether the tollway wants to include features such as car-pool lanes and whether the STAR line, a new commuter rail system, is built.

Tollway Executive Director Kristi Lafleur said the agency needs a long-term solution to I-90.

The tollway board is currently reviewing a laundry list of megaprojects ranging from the Elgin-O’Hare Expressway extension to the I-90 widening but hasn’t committed to any yet.

For the work beginning next week, workers will be removing old asphalt on the Jane Addams and replacing it, redoing decks on the 25 bridges, fixing culverts and installing new roadway cameras.

Drivers should expect occasional entrance and exit ramp closures. One of the I-PASS lanes at the Route 59 and Beverly Road toll plazas also will be closed during the early stages of construction.