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Ramp closures begin Friday at Route 59, I-88

Six of the eight ramps connecting Route 59 and I-88 in Naperville will close beginning around 8 p.m. Friday for an 11-day project to reconfigure them into a diverging diamond traffic pattern.

The only two ramps to remain open will allow drivers on Route 59 to make right turns onto the tollway, according to the Illinois Department of Transportation. That means drivers heading south on Route 59 will be able to go west on I-88 and those traveling north on Route 59 can head east on the tollway.

All other connections at the interchange are scheduled to remain closed until about 5 a.m. Monday, Sept. 21, when they are expected to reopen before the morning rush, according to the Illinois Department of Transportation.

Posted detour routes will use Eola, Winfield, Butterfield and Bilter roads.

The work is one of the final phases of a nearly $90 million, two-year project to widen a three-mile stretch of Route 59 to three lanes in each direction between Ferry Road on the north and Aurora Avenue/New York Street on the south.

During the ramp closure, crews will pour new concrete medians, install traffic signals and lighting towers, connect cables and wires, post new signs and paint lane markings to make the diverging diamond ready for use later this month.

The interchange will be the first in the Chicago area converted to a diverging diamond, a pattern said to be safer because it eliminates left turns across traffic. It's the second such design in the state, after a similar interchange opened earlier this summer at Illinois routes 57 and 13 in Marion.

For details about the Route 59 ramp closures and the project as a whole, visit http://www.naperville.il.us/route59expansion.aspx or http://www.idot.illinois.gov/projects/il59-reconstruction-and-widening-project.

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