Ramp closures, detours planned near O’Hare next week

Expect overnight delays and detours if you’re driving to or near O’Hare International Airport next week.

Three nights of closures are scheduled to begin Monday, Aug. 11, on the ramps connecting the southbound Tri-State Tollway (I-294) and the eastbound Jane Addams Memorial Tollway (I-90) to I-190, for work to relocate the O’Hare Interchange Toll Plaza.

Closures are needed to shift traffic for ongoing toll plaza construction as part of the Illinois Department of Transportation’s I-190 Project, officials said Wednesday.

Beginning at 10 p.m. Monday, ramps connecting southbound I-294 and eastbound I-90 to westbound I-190 are scheduled to close. Detours will take southbound I-294 traffic to westbound Irving Park Road and northbound Mannheim Road to access westbound I-190. I-90 traffic will be routed to southbound I-294 and then follow the same detour to access westbound I-190.

The ramps are scheduled to reopen by 4 a.m. Tuesday, but two additional nights of closures are set to follow on the same time schedule, officials said. The timeline is weather dependent.

Electronic message signs and construction signage will be in place to alert drivers, and up-to-date information will be posted online at illinoistollway.com/media-center/construction-alerts.

Once traffic is shifted, work will continue to remove median barriers and construct gutter, guardrail, a toll plaza building and a parking lot. Two lanes of traffic will be maintained, and reduced shoulders will be available in the area during construction. The work is expected to last through the end of the year.

The work is being done by IDOT as part of a larger project to improve I-190 operations and road access to the airport.