Ramps closing at I-90, Elmhurst Road in preparation for diamond interchange
Ramp closures at the Jane Addams Tollway (I-90) and Elmhurst Road begin next week as workers ready the state's third diverging diamond interchange to open this summer.
The counterintuitive design uses traffic lights to guide vehicles temporarily into the left lanes to avoid making turns against oncoming cars and trucks.
Elmhurst Road will remain open but ramps to and from the east on I-90 will close in time for the Monday morning commute and remain closed through most of June. Toll road traffic will be detoured to the Arlington Heights Road exit.
In May and June, tollway crews will be installing signals, laying pavement and constructing barrier walls and medians at the interchange.
When work wraps up, traffic will shift to the diverging diamond configuration. After signal tests are complete, the interchange will reopen with new access to and from the west.
Tolls will be collected electronically at the Elmhurst interchange and cost 55 cents for I-PASS users. Drivers without I-PASS accounts will need to pay a cash rate of $1.10 online.
Last month, tollway directors approved paying an extra $2 million to expedite the project, bringing the total up to $35.5 million, so it would open in June.
Diverging diamond interchanges are intended to improve safety and take up less space than conventional cloverleaf designs.
Two other diverging diamonds are located at Route 59 and the Reagan Memorial Tollway in Naperville and at I-57 and Route 13 in Marion, in southern Illinois.