Explosion killed person on I-290, feds say

Federal authorities said Friday that a death on the Eisenhower Expressway, which closed both directions of the highway for more than seven hours Thursday, was due to an explosion.

A spokesman for the FBI also said, via a post on X, that “no evidence was found to indicate this was connected to any other event or that any other individuals were involved.”

The FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are investigating.

The name, age, sex and hometown of the person who was killed were not given. The Cook County medical examiner’s website says the person was a white man. An autopsy was scheduled for Friday.

The person was pronounced dead at 1:45 p.m. Thursday in the westbound lanes just west of 25th Avenue in Hillside.

Mannheim Road to I-290 was closed beginning around 11 a.m., as was the Reagan Memorial Tollway (I-88) eastbound to I-290 eastbound. Traffic on the Tri-State Tollway (I-294) near the area also was affected.

Roads reopened just before 7 p.m.