Full I-90 interchange coming to Elmhurst Road
The long-awaited full interchange at Elmhurst Road and the Jane Addams Tollway (I-90) will be reality within four years, Elk Grove Village Mayor Craig Johnson said Thursday during his State of the Village address.
"For 40 years the full interchange has been drastically needed," Johnson said at a lunch sponsored by the Elk Grove Chamber of Commerce.
Mount Prospect and Des Plaines leaders have also lobbied over the decades for the improvement, he said.
Currently I-90 traffic can get off at Elmhurst Road coming west from the city, and Elmhurst Road drivers can get on I-90 going east. A full interchange will build access to and from west I-90, making it quicker and easier for trucks to head west or come to Elk Grove Village from the west.
"This is part of the I-90 improvements where they are adding lanes," Johnson said. "Now it (the interchange) makes sense for them economically. It's more feasible when they're doing work on the tollway. We're very excited."
Building a full interchange at Elmhurst Road is part of the Elgin-O'Hare Western Access Project, confirmed Wendy Abrams, chief of communications for the Illinois Tollway.
"The new interchange will be constructed in phases, in order to maintain traffic along Elmhurst Road and along I-90 during construction," she said in an email.
"The first construction phase anticipated to begin in 2013 is the construction of a new northbound Elmhurst Road bridge over I-90. Construction of the southbound Elmhurst Road bridge over I-90, ramps and additional improvements along Elmhurst Road between Landmeier Road and Oakton Avenue will follow."
The interchange is moving up on the priority list to coordinate with the I-90 rebuilding and widening, which is scheduled to be complete by the end of 2016, she said. The current cost estimate for the Elmhurst Road interchange project is $50 million-$60 million.
The fact that U.S. Rep. Peter Roskam, a Wheaton Republican, got a grant for engineering the full exchange might have impressed tollway officials, said Johnson, since it showed "support from local, state and federal governments."
The whole interchange will be rebuilt, said Johnson, adding that the tollway authority already owns the needed land.
Des Plaines Mayor Martin J. Moylan said he was excited about the interchange and about the jobs that its construction will bring, but he wants to see the final engineering plans. For one thing, the Des Plaines oasis might be relocated, he said.
Moylan said this is not necessarily a death knell for the complete interchange at Lee Street that his city is seeking.
Dave Strahl, Mount Prospect's assistant village manager, agreed with Johnson and Moylan that a full interchange will be a good thing.
"Anytime you increase access like that, it improves traffic flow and makes it easier to get around," he said, noting that Elmhurst Road is a key entry point for drivers who live or work in Mount Prospect.
Businesses that move 90,000 tons of freight through Elk Grove Village daily have been clamoring for the full exchange at Elmhurst Road, Johnson said.
"They say, 'Every second our trucks spend at a traffic light costs us time and money.' Our streets are congested," he said. "Let's get the trucks off and free up traffic flow."
Arlington Heights Road's interchange with I-90 was expanded to a full one in 1996. Trucks use that entrance and exit to get to the western side of the Elk Grove business park, Johnson said.