Illinois governor hails opening of major tollway extension, says must focus on moving people

Governor Rod Blagojevich amid lots of hoopla cut the ribbon for the $730m 20km (12.5 mile) extension of the I-355 Tollway in the southwestern part of the greater Chicago area today. Now officially named the Veterans Memorial Tollway the I-355 used to be called the North-South Tollway. There were bicycle rides, walks, a musical tribute to veterans, and of course speeches.

"When the Tollway system was created nearly 50 years ago, it was all about moving people from one place to another faster. But unfortunately, over the years the system strayed from that mission," said Gov Blagojevich. "Now, thanks to the reforms implemented by the leadership team and the agency’s commitment to the $6.3 billion Congestion-Relief Program, the Illinois Tollway is definitively back in the business of making it easier and quicker for people to get where they want to go. Completing systemwide Open Road Tolling last year and now the I-355 South Extension this year are evidence that customers’ needs once again come first."

Speakers who also included Tollway chairman John Mitola, the state veterans affairs director, and Tollway CEO Brian McPartlin. They said that the new highway was "all about improving the quality of life of people who live in this area."

The project was on budget and on schedule. Cost of the project was $36m/km ($58m/mile) and since it is 121 lane-km (75 lane-miles) the cost was $6.03m/lane-km and $9.7m/lane-mile.

The extension of 3+3 lanes takes the tollway south of its previous terminus at the I-55 Stevenson Expressway near the Argonne National Laboratory to New Lennox and I-80, the great San Francisco to New York City cross-continental interstate running along the southern fringe of the Chicago area.

The I-355 extension has four intermediate interchanges. Its major structure is a 2.1km (1.3mi) long 30m (100ft) high bridge over the Des Plaines River, a shipping canal plus railroad corridor. The bridge is built of precast, post-tensioned bulb-T concrete beams with 35 spans.

The extension has one mainline toll plaza and four pairs of ramp plazas.

Toll rates for cars at the plazas are:

- 127th Street ramp plazas: 50 cents I-PASS, $1.00 cash
- 143rd Street/Archer Avenue ramp plazas: 65c I-PASS, $1.25 cash
- 159th Street ramp plaza: 75c I-PASS, $1.50 cash
- Spring Creek Toll Plaza: $1.00 I-PASS, $2.00 cash
- US6 ramp plaza: 25c I-PASS, 50c cash

I-PASS is the brandname for the electronic toll system operated by the Illinois Tollway which uses active 915MHz Mark IV toll transponders mounted mostly on the inside of drivers' windshields and is part of the multiagency E-ZPass Inter Agency Group allowing interoperability with toll systems from Illinois east through Indiana, Pennsylvania and New York to the Atlantic coast south to Virginia and north into New England.

Electronic Transactions Consultants (ETC) are the Illinois Tollway's toll system supplier. They designed and installed the toll systems for the extension.

First extension in 20 years

This is the first major new tollroad opening in the Chicago area in 20 years, though there has been major reconstruction and widening of the existing system. The new highway is estimated to reduce travel times by 13% to 20% as compared to existing surface roads. Like any new quality road this will increase the range of jobs available within a tolerable commuting time and improve access to retailing, educational, health and educational opportunities for people in the area.

The region will also benefit from an alternative to the busy Tristate Tollway (I-294) the major north-south route closer in. Traffic accidents in the corridor can expect to be reduced by about two thirds because of the greater safety of the expressway form of road with its controlled access and grade separations as compared with surface roads.

Opening of the road will take the length of the Illinois Tollway system of four major tollroads from 441km to 461km (274 to 286 miles).

download the Tollway's 7 page fact sheet on the project here

see this for a map showing construction work on the Illinois Tollway network:

http://www.illinoistollway.com/pls/portal/docs/PAGE/TW_CONTENT_REPOSITORY/TW_CR_ROADS_TOLLS/2007_CONST_MAP.PDF

TOLLROADSnews 2007-11-13