Ramp from Tri-State to I-290 closing for repairs

Suburbanites accustomed to hopping on I-290 west from the southbound Tri-State Tollway (I-294) will need a Plan B this weekend.

The Illinois Tollway will close the heavily used ramp from the Tri-State onto I-290 starting at 10 p.m. Friday through 5 a.m. Monday.

Drivers will be detoured from south I-294 onto eastbound I-290, then shifted onto northbound Mannheim Road, where they can access the westbound I-290 ramp.

The ramp is too narrow to accommodate construction and keep a lane open, which is why the agency is closing down the entire structure. The repairs are slated for the weekend when traffic is lighter with 7,000 vehicles using the ramp per day.

The agency is patching concrete, repairing bridge joints and extending the median wall of the ramp as part of a $112.6 million resurfacing of the central Tri-State.

This involves work on a 22-mile section between Balmoral Avenue in Rosemont and 95th Street in Oak Lawn.

More than 50 bridges will be repaired as part of the work.

This week also marks the start of shoulder work and repairing pavement in the Rockford area as a precursor to widening the Jane Addams Tollway (I-90), which will start in 2013. Lane closures will be occurring overnight.

For more information on tollway construction, go to www.illinoistollway.com.