'I'm honored': Another tollway chairman steps into the fray
Incoming Illinois tollway board Chairman Arnie Rivera attended his first board meeting Thursday and thanked colleagues for bringing him up to speed on the $1.5 billion agency.
"I'm honored to serve in this role," said Rivera, a Chicagoan and Navy Pier executive whose appointment was announced last Friday by Gov. J.B. Pritzker.
He's the third chairman slated by Pritzker in four years after the governor's original pick, Will Evans, left in 2022 amid Senate scrutiny over whether he was overreaching his authority. Evans' replacement, Dorothy Abreu, departed because of health issues in January.
Asked about his message to tollway users, Rivera said, "ultimately I want the focus to be on the great work that the tollway is doing. Coming in, there's a lot of momentum. I think there's a lot of great work in the pipeline as well.
"I want to make sure that the story that's out there about the tollway, is about what's happening - thanks to the hard work of the men and women that are working for us every day."
Rivera has bachelor's and master's degrees from Northwestern University, and previously was chief operating officer for Chicago Public Schools.
He lives on Chicago's Northwest side.
"I do drive the tollways a lot ... a lot more in the last week," Rivera said. "Whether I'm visiting family or coming to the tollway, I am traversing it a lot."
Also at Wednesday's meeting, board directors approved $4.9 million in increases to two contracts related to construction of I-490, a toll road stretching around O'Hare International Airport's west side. It will connect with the Tri-State State Tollway near Franklin Park and I-90 near Des Plaines.
The project is adjacent to two railways - the Canadian Pacific's rail yard and tracks near Bensenville and Union Pacific tracks.
To make room for I-490, the tollway is shifting the UP tracks and building a bridge to carry its trains over the Canadian Pacific facilities. "That work is going to ramp up this year," Chief Engineering Officer Manar Nashif said.
A contract with Judlau Contracting Inc. grew by $1.1 million because of higher steel costs. A contract with Walsh Construction Co. increased by $3.8 million after UP updated its requirements for a soil retention system that provides stabilization with trains running during bridge construction.