Tollway expands Move Illinois program
The Illinois tollway’s seismic Move Illinois program is expanding by about $1 billion to accommodate I-490 construction complexities plus improvements to toll plazas and other needs.
Tollway directors on Thursday approved increasing the program’s nearly $14.3 billion budget to $15.2 billion.
They also stretched its length from 15 to 16 years, with completion now expected at the end of 2027.
Since Move Illinois took off in 2012, the agency has widened the Jane Addams Tollway (I-90), built an interchange at the Tri-State Tollway and I-57, and extended Route 390, formerly the Elgin O’Hare Expressway.
It’s currently adding lanes to the Tri-State (I-294) and building I-490, a ring road on O’Hare International Airport’s west side.
The brand-new I-490 will connect with I-294 near Franklin Park and I-90 near Des Plaines.
The toll road is seen as a game-changer in conveying suburban traffic around the region. But it’s also immensely complex given the proximity to the Union Pacific and Canadian Pacific railways, utilities and O’Hare, Chief Engineer Manar Nashif said.
For example, the tollway had to coordinate with the Federal Aviation Administration and Chicago to relocate runway approach lights while building a section.
Another challenge is constructing a bridge for UP trains over Metra, CP tracks, a rail yard and Franklin Avenue in Franklin Park.
“When the Move Illinois program was created, we did not anticipate some of the issues and challenges and complexities that we’re seeing now with the development of I-490,” including negotiations with the railroads, Executive Director Cassaundra Rouse said.
Officials said they also required additional funds for improvements at toll plazas “needed as a result of the transition to cashless tolling and increasing regional demand for fiber-optic access that have arisen following the COVID-19 pandemic. The updated program will also accommodate planning and design for future projects.”
Move Illinois started off as a 15-year, $12 billion initiative. To help pay for it, tolls were nearly doubled by the former board under Gov. Pat Quinn’s tenure in 2011.
In 2017, the board expanded the program to include widening the Tri-State, bumping the cost up to $14 billion during Gov. Bruce Rauner’s administration.
Nashif said I-490 is already stimulating economic development in Cook and DuPage counties.
He cited a future interchange in Franklin Park, which has triggered “7,000 jobs and over 4 million square feet of industrial space, created just in anticipation of this project.”