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IDOT Blog – Monday, October 17, 2022
$1.2 billion, six-year Corridor Improvement Project announced for I-80 in Will County
16 miles of interstate will be rebuilt, Des Plaines River bridge to be replaced.
Come 2027, the 50-year-old Interstate 80 corridor in Joliet and Will County will be transformed into a modern, safe roadway that motorists can depend on following completion of a massive $1.2 billion reconstruction project. The work will be on a condensed timeframe and will take six years to complete.
As a cornerstone of the Rebuild Illinois capital program, work in the 16-mile corridor will create thousands of construction and permanent jobs while positioning the region for long-term economic opportunity.
"This rebuild will transform 16 miles of I-80, redesign auxiliary lanes and interchanges to reduce congestion, and rehabilitate over 30 bridges along the roadway. These overdue improvements will not only make it safer for commercial drivers, but for the thousands of families who rely on I-80 to commute to work, drive their kids to school and move safely through their daily lives," Gov. Pritzker said Oct. 18 in New Lenox. "While this project is ambitious in scale, it has also been designed to minimize its impact on the residents that live along the highway. New pedestrian and bicyclist paths will help keep communities better connected and 8 miles of noise walls will help keep surrounding neighborhoods insulated from noisy traffic."
As one of the country's three coast-to-coast interstates, I-80 through Joliet and Will County carries approximately 80,000 vehicles a day, about 25 percent of which are trucks. Because of the outdated design and capacity restraints, congestion as well as frequent merging and weaving are common. To shorten the construction timeline, several project components and land acquisition efforts will be done concurrently to deliver this project more quickly, with less impact to the public.
Advance work on I-80 started this summer with a $41.7 million project to replace the eastbound bridges over Hickory Creek, Richards Street, Rowell Avenue/Canadian National Railroad, and westbound over Richards Street in Joliet, while widening eastbound I-80 from Gardner Street to Rowell Avenue. Once the eastbound improvements are completed next year, similar improvements will begin in the westbound direction.
In addition, a $47 million reconstruction of the U.S. 30 interchange (exit 137) in Joliet and New Lenox, which includes adding a third I-80 lane in each direction west from Interstate 355, concludes this fall. IDOT also is investing $32 million to leverage a combined $200 million public-private effort for the Houbolt Road interchange (exit 127) and extension to the CenterPoint Properties intermodal facilities.
In 2022, the section from Ridge Road (exit 122) to the DuPage River west of I-55 will be under construction as land acquisition progresses and final engineering is completed on the replacement of the Des Plaines River bridges. Improvements will begin from Ridge Road to U.S. 30 in 2023, leaving construction of the Des Plaines River bridges and Center Street and U.S. 52/Illinois 53 (Chicago Street) interchanges (exits 131 and 132) in 2026 and 2027.
When it wraps up in 2027, the overall I-80 project will have redesigned and rebuilt 16 miles from Ridge Road in Minooka to U.S. 30 in New Lenox, while adding or extending auxiliary lanes to improve safety and reduce congestion. Interchanges will have been rebuilt or improved at Interstate 55, Larkin Avenue (Illinois 7), Center Street, Chicago Street (U.S. 52/Illinois 53), Richards Street and Briggs Street, with a new flyover ramp linking southbound I-55 to westbound I-80 to improve traffic flow and safety. More than 30 bridges will have been rehabilitated or replaced.
"With demand for freight projected to double in northeastern Illinois the next 20 years, Will County's role as a transportation hub and the country's largest inland port is critical," said Illinois Transportation Secretary Omer Osman. "We know I-80 drives commerce in this vitally important part of the state. At the governor's direction, we are expediting these improvements as quickly as we can."
To ensure I-80 no longer acts as a barrier to local mobility, bicycle and pedestrian connections will be provided through interchanges and at overhead crossings as well as along Chicago Street between Doris and Fifth avenues.
The larger I-80 improvements will include workers from the Highway Construction Careers Training Program, an IDOT initiative, in partnership with South Suburban Community College in South Holland, and Dawson Technical Institute of Kennedy King College in Chicago to provide minority and female students with on-the-job experience toward a career in the construction trades.
Through year two of Rebuild Illinois, IDOT has made approximately $5.2 billion in improvements to more than 3,000 miles of highway and nearly 300 bridges, as well as almost 450 additional safety improvements.
Passed in 2019, Rebuild Illinois is investing $33.2 billion into the state's aging transportation system, creating jobs, and promoting economic growth. Rebuild Illinois is not only the largest capital program in state history, but also the first one that touches all modes of Illinois transportation: roads and bridges, transit, waterways, freight and passenger rail, aviation, and bicycle and pedestrian accommodations.