I-90 work stands to snarl summer trips “Up North”
Getaways to Wisconsin via Interstate 90 will take a little longer this summer as Illinois Tollway officials are planning a $105 million resurfacing and repair project covering 27 miles in four counties.
Road crews are scheduled to begin in April with the construction project that is expected to last through the end of the year.
The project is broken into two parts. One segment of construction will run from Barrington Road near South Barrington west to the Elgin Toll Plaza. The second, and lengthier, segment runs from Highway 20 near Huntley west to Genoa Road just east of Rockford.
How traffic will be routed during the construction cycle hasn’t been determined yet. The interstate is three lanes wide in each direction between Barrington Road and the Elgin Toll Plaza. It is only two lanes wide in each direction on the other segment.
Kristi Lafleur, executive director of the toll authority, said soon all of I-90 will need to be rebuilt because it is nearing 60 years of use.
“Pavement on I-90 will be undergoing a fifth rehabilitation, which is beyond industry norms and unprecedented on the tollway system,” she said. “The tollway staff has done a tremendous job of maintaining the roadway and addressing the most pressing needs. The upcoming work will allow us to continue to provide our customers with a smooth ride.”
Another $87 million budgeted for capital improvement projects this year will go toward intermittent pavement repairs throughout the tollway system, landscaping and bridge improvements, Lafleur added.
The work being done this year is all part of the tollway’s $5.8 billion Congestion Relief Program that began several years ago and is scheduled to wind down by 2016. Lafleur said 80 percent of the funds for the program have been spent on other projects. Those projects include converting 22 toll plazas into barrier-free open road tolling, extending Interstate 355 south to Interstate 80 in Will County and adding extra lanes to many miles of toll roads.
In the coming five years, Lafleur said the central section of the Tri-State Tollway will also undergo repairs as well as additional sections of I-90.