Slowed by obsolete toll plaza infrastructure? Tollway is removing gates and barriers
They’re such a fixture on the suburban landscape, we typically don’t acknowledge how anachronistic they are.
They’re the barriers, gates and canopies once crucial to Illinois tollway operations before a cashless system was instituted during COVID-19.
Although the buckets that drivers used to lob coins at are long gone, the supporting infrastructure remains at many locations, coexisting with Open Road Tolling lanes.
That will change as the tollway removes the outdated impedimenta over the next few years.
The initiative will “convert our system to a barrier-free system to improve traffic operations at these plazas, as well as remove the aging infrastructure that we no longer need because we’re not collecting cash,” Chief Engineer Manar Nashif said Wednesday.
It should save time for drivers and money for the tollway by slashing maintenance costs.
“At the end of the day, it will be a much more open field. Ultimately, with no barriers, there’s fewer obstacles as traffic passes through it,” Nashif noted.
Along with installing new toll collection equipment, workers will rebuild plaza pavement, and modernize lighting, electrical systems and drainage.
So, which plaza gets upgraded first?
Tollway engineers have divided the project into three tiers.
Tier 1 work stretches from 2025 into 2027 and includes sites with significant traffic backups or with imminent repair needs.
Two upgrades already underway are the 163rd Street Toll Plaza on the Tri-State and the East Riverside Toll Plaza on the Jane Addams tollways. Both will wrap up in 2025.
Other Tier 1 ramp and mainline improvements starting this year include:
• Halsted Street interchange; 159th Street interchange; northbound O’Hare International Airport interchange; and Golf Road ramp, on the Tri-State Tollway.
• River Road Toll Plaza; Route 53 interchange; Arlington Heights Road interchange; Route 25 interchange; and Route 31 interchange, on the Jane Addams Memorial Tollway.
• North Avenue interchange, on I-355.
Tier 2 primarily involves ramps; design work begins later in 2025.
Tier 3 encompasses mainline locations with a large footprint, such as the Army Trail Toll Plaza on I-355 or Elgin Toll Plaza on I-90.
“That is more of a future initiative; we don’t have an exact timeline,” Nashif said.
The improvements involve more than hauling barriers and canopies away, engineers explained.
“We’ve got to figure out where the lanes are going to go and what we’re going to do with the space,” Nashif said.
“We want to make sure the traffic flows smoothly (so) we’re relieving the congestion as opposed to creating more congestion.”
The tollway will also coordinate with local municipalities, to “see what other operational needs we have, to see what other uses we may have for that space.”
Six contracts have been approved for Tier 1, costing about $70 million, with up to $60 million more to be awarded. Those will be paid through the Move Illinois program, which ends in 2027.
Tiers 2 and 3 will be funded by the tollway’s new, interim $2 billion Bridging the Future capital plan that runs from 2025 through 2031.
Drivers “are going to see this work spread out across the system,” Nashif said, warning motorists to watch for changing traffic patterns, speed limits, and workers.
Got a comment? Drop an email to mpyke@dailyherald.com.
You should know
At some point, we’ll be longing for blue skies and hot temperatures. When that comes, American Airlines is adding new service to two sunny destinations from O’Hare International Airport, officials announced Thursday.
The carrier will start daily service to Mexico City on Oct. 26, and daily holiday service to historic Queretaro, Mexico, from Dec. 18 to Jan. 5, 2026.
One more thing
Passengers expecting to ride on Metra Electric District trains later this month should expect some service hiccups. Sunday schedules will be in place the weekends of July 19 to 20, and July 26 to 27, as the railroad collaborates with the South Shore Line on a major expansion project.
On the last weekend of July, Metra and South Shore Line trains will terminate and originate from the 18th Street Station. Buses will take riders between Millennium Station and 18th Street.