Toll authority seeks grant for Tri-State/I-57 interchange

Getting to Illini games without running afoul of the infamous I-57/Tri-State disconnect may hinge on federal funding, tollway officials said.

The agency has long planned to create an interchange linking the two highways, but the project now costs a hefty $570 million. The Illinois State Toll Highway Authority has applied for a federal grant to build the connection along with the Illinois Department of Transportation and is likely to hear mid-February if the $300 million they're seeking is forthcoming.

Competition is fierce for the grants, however, and if no money is available it's conceivable the work may need to be done in phases, officials said.

"It's one of the last remaining locations in the United States where two interstates cross and do not connect," tollway engineer Rocco Zucchero said at a Thursday meeting.

Tollway planners said the greatest users of the interchange would be people traveling between the Chicago area and Champaign, followed by people getting to O'Hare and back, and Chicago-generated traffic.

The tollway is still awaiting Federal Highway Administration approval for the project but initial construction could start in August, pending funding.

IDOT is expected to contribute $66 million and the tollway had committed $46.5 million, but securing federal aid is key, engineers said.

The interchange is one of the biggest projects on the agency's plate now it is wrapping up a $6.3 billion widening and reconstruction program. Officials, however, said they expect to talk about future plans for the Jane Addams Tollway at a meeting in February.

Tollway board Director Bill Morris asked staff to come up with a detailed list of future projects and priorities to provide some perspective. With the economic slump, there's scant state or federal dollars for road projects, leading to pressure on the tollway to adopt a range of projects from the Elgin-O'Hare Expressway to the extension north of Route 53.

But "while I want to keep the economic engine going, I don't want to do it at the cost of a toll increase," Morris said.