‘Pressure release’: Officials mark Cook’s biggest road project to date — rebuilding gridlocked Touhy Avenue

State, local and Cook County leaders on Thursday celebrated the kickoff of a $99 million mega project to ease gridlock on Touhy Avenue near O’Hare International Airport.

The improvements will add capacity to a stretch of road that carries 32,000 vehicles a day, more than it’s currently designed to handle, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle said.

“Yet this is much more than a road project,” she noted at a Thursday groundbreaking in Des Plaines. “It will enhance national freight railroad operations by building a grade separation at one of Union Pacific’s busiest rail crossings in the nation.”

Intersection reconfiguration and building ramps to the future I-490 will spur growth in air travel and shipping by enhancing access to O’Hare, Preckwinkle added.

For residents and drivers frustrated by idling their cars as freight trains block crossings, “this is a great opportunity,” Des Plaines Mayor Andrew Goczkowski said.

“It’s like a pressure release where you’re not beholden to the schedule of trains,” he said. “You have a way to get around the train no matter what time it is and where you’re going.”

Details of the project in the Des Plaines/Elk Grove Village area include:

• Reconstructing Touhy between Elmhurst and Mount Prospect roads.

• A bridge/grade separation elevating Touhy Avenue over the UP tracks and I-490.

• Realigning Old Higgins Road east of Elmhurst Road to create a new intersection at Touhy.

• Realigning Mount Prospect Road for a new intersection at Touhy.

• Building a shared-use path for cyclists and pedestrians.

• Constructing connections with I-490 ramps.

Fixing the Touhy/Elmhurst Road intersection will be a game-changer, Cook County Transportation and Highways Superintendent Jennifer “Sis” Killen said.

“If you were a vehicle that’s making a left turn to go westbound, you may be sitting for multiple cycles on that light,” she said of the current setup. “We are creating two new intersections to help move some of that left-turning traffic out of that intersection to ease that movement.”

However, Killen cautioned drivers of upcoming construction delays.

“It’s going to be a two-year project where we’re going to need to reduce (traffic) down to two lanes each way,” she said.

Once completed, the grade separation will eliminate delays caused by UP freight trains at crossings, which will not only expedite traffic but also bring relief to hundreds of O’Hare employees who use an entrance off Touhy, she noted.

The overhaul is being done in coordination with the Illinois tollway, which is constructing I-490. The new tollway along O’Hare’s west side will link with I-90 near Des Plaines, Route 390 by the airport and I-294 near Franklin Park.

Other stakeholders include federal, state and local agencies, and utilities.