Work wrapping up after three years on 23-mile span of I-88
After three years of orange barrels, concrete barricades and warning signs, work finally is wrapping up on the multimillion-dollar renovation and widening effort along a 23-mile span of the Reagan Memorial Tollway from Oak Brook to North Aurora.
And I-88 motorists won't be the only ones cheering when the construction dust settles sometime next month.
County and municipal officials say all the communities along the I-88 corridor are poised to reap the economic rewards of the more than $800 million in improvements made by the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority.
"The tollway is an economic engine for our cities like Aurora and Naperville because it brings people here from all over and they can get here without having to fight traffic," said Naperville Mayor George Pradel, who also serves on the tollway's board of directors.
With Saturday's opening of the new Eola Road interchange in Aurora, only two I-88 projects remain to be completed.
One is the resurfacing and widening between the Aurora Toll Plaza and Orchard Road. The other is the resurfacing and widening work from Finley Road in Downers Grove to Route 83 in Oak Brook.
Michael King, the tollway's acting executive director, said the goal is to have both projects completed by Christmas. He added it will be another two decades before roadwork of this magnitude happens again along those portions of I-88.
"We built the I-88 stretch as a 20-year road where it shouldn't need any major work for the next 20 years," King said. "And then even at 20 years, that will be just patching and maybe new layers. So we'll get another 30 years out of this stretch, and that's the great thing about putting this kind of investment into a roadway."
DuPage County Board Chairman Robert Schillerstrom said the projects - including a redesigned Naperville Road interchange that opened last year - will help ease traffic congestion in the county.
"One of the things that sets DuPage County apart is that we're a business center," Schillerstrom said. "To be a business center, you have to continue to invest in your infrastructure. And this is a tremendous investment in the infrastructure that will reduce congestion and continue to keep DuPage County as a desirable place for businesses to come and locate and to create jobs."
Before the widening to three lanes started between the Aurora Toll Plaza and Orchard Road, Aurora Mayor Tom Weisner said there was a great deal of congestion. Average daily traffic volumes along the stretch grew from a high of about 7,140 cars and trucks in 1970 to more than 72,780 vehicles in 2008.
"Because of the lack of lanes, we were really starting to feel it," Weisner said.
Now Aurora officials are expecting to see development in the area surrounding the Eola Road interchange. The projected influx of office buildings, stores, hotels and warehouses has the potential to create hundreds of jobs, officials say.
"Because of the economy and the fact there is a surplus right now of office and retail, it's going to take a little longer," Weisner said. "But the important thing is that it will happen."
That's why one Aurora alderman is calling the pending completion of the I-88 work "an early Christmas present."
"It means improvement in commerce," Third Ward Alderman Stephanie Kifowit said. "We can start getting the trucks here quicker. Our residents can get to work a little bit more efficiently. It's a positive effect on the economy, believe it or not."
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