Danger at juncture of I-88, I-355

I'm a Lisle resident who lives within walking distance of the intersection of I-88 and I-355 and regularly travels both of these tollways. Is it just me, or has anyone else observed a changes in the traffic patterns on these roads, and particularly on I-355, since the opening of the I-355 extension in November 2007?

One such change is particularly disturbing. My afternoon drive home from Aurora, heading eastbound on I-88 and exiting at the ramp to southbound I-355 and the Ogden Avenue exit, used to be effortless on most days. In recent weeks, however, I've found myself increasingly apprehensive about the short but suddenly hazardous stretch between Route 53 and that exit ramp. It appears that either the volume of traffic on I-355, or the number of vehicles using that exit ramp, has increased substantially. Perhaps it's both. In any case, the right-hand exit lane on I-88 now regularly backs up for one-quarter to one-half mile or more, behind the vehicles slowly passing through that congested ramp onto a sluggish southbound I-355. Meanwhile, vehicles in the next lane to the left (i.e. the extreme right lane of I-88) fly by this line of stalled traffic at high speed.

If everyone drove with common courtesy and entered the exit lane at the end of the line, so to speak, this might work well enough. Inevitably, what you observe most afternoons are drivers whose time is more valuable than everyone else's, who can't be bothered with waiting in that line, etc., etc. (We all know the kind we're talking about.) They pass as many of the stalled cars as they can, slowing or even stopping in the right-hand lane so that they can cut into the exit lane at the last possible minute while vehicles bear down on them at 55 mph or more.

I hope I'm wrong, but I fear it's only a matter of time before there's a serious accident at this location. Perhaps the experts at the Illinois Toll Highway Authority can do something about this before that happens.

Bill Munch

Lisle