ChiTown Traffic Tattler

Via the Illinois Tollway Authority: State and local officials late last week kicked off a project for a new all-electronic toll collection exit ramp from the northbound Tri-State Tollway to Balmoral Avenue. The partnership between Rosemont and the Illinois Tollway Authority means the village will spend up to $26.5 million on the project, while the [...]

I’m sure motorists & commuters in the know were eagerly awaiting this month’s re-opening of the inbound side of the 335-foot Congress Parkway bridge. Alas, the opening of the bridge — closed for reconstruction in April 2010 — has been delayed…Until September. From Jon Hilkevitch in the Chicago Tribune: Delays in manufacturing and delivering bridge [...]

In light of the closure of a 4-mile stretch of Cline Avenue between Calumet Avenue in Hammond and Michigan Avenue in East Chicago, the Indiana Department of Transportation has reached a “route transfer agreement”  with East Chicago, which will give up sections of Riley and Dickey Roads. The agreement is effective October 1, and will [...]

The Illinois Department of Transportation said three entrance ramps from Chicago city streets to the Kennedy Expressway have opened to traffic. The ramps were opened before the afternoon rush hour and in time for IDOT to begin fighting the first major snow storm of the season. The entrance ramps from Jackson Boulevard and Adams Street [...]

South Suburban motorists should expect a detour when traveling along Burnham Avenue through Calumet City. The bridge between 143rd Street in Burnham and State Street in Calumet City was closed Nov. 9 to all local traffic, the Illinois Department of Transportation said. All work is expected to be completed by late November, the agency said. [...]

This week, eastbound traffic on the Borman Expressway (Interstate 80/94 in Lake County, Ind.) will be traveling on new concrete pavement, and three ramps will re-open to motorists, an Indiana Department of Transportation news release said. Beginning Tuesday morning, the eastbound center and right lanes will be moved south onto new pavement. Also, the ramp [...]

Motorists should expect delays through Sunday along Cicero Avenue at the Stevenson Expressway due to railroad crossing repairs, the Illinois Department of Transportation said in a news release. Canadian National Railroad crews will be repairing and replacing an at-grade crossing in the area, and motorists should expect heavy congestion along other routes in the towns [...]

Occasional lane restrictions between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m. are scheduled along the Borman Expressway in Lake County Indiana between Broadway and Central Avenue beginning Sunday, according to an Indiana Department of Transportation news release. The roadwork will continue through Oct. 31. Between midnight and 5 a.m., two lanes in each direction may be restricted, [...]

The Tribune’s Jon Hilkevitch has a great piece looking at a study by the League of Illinois Bicyclists that posits that road-widening and reconstruction projects done by local agencies are often superior to work done by state highway engineers. The difference: An interest in how changes affect everyone who uses a roadway versus a focus [...]

IDOT on Wednesday was urging Chicago drivers to avoid downtown expressways for at least 24 hours after after pavement buckled on the westbound Kennedy Expressway at Adams Street. UPDATE: According to the Tribune’s Jon Hilkevitch, the expressway’s pavement buckled near Adams Street when concrete grout flowed through a crack in a repaired section of the [...]

The first segment of the Elgin O’Hare Expressway West Bypass study is scheduled to be complete in early 2010 with a final environmental impact statement and record of decision that illustrates a preferred transportation system plan for the area. Once that preferred plan is identified, the Illinois Department of Transportation will begin the study’s second [...]

Congress Parkway bridge over Chicago River got lowest possible rating for a span to stay open Ever since the 2007 collapse of an interstate highway spanning the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, Illinois officials have kept quiet about the deteriorating condition of many bridges here, citing security concerns in an era of terrorist threats. …

About seven miles could get wider from Mannheim Road to Cicero Avenue After promises for years that studies were in the works, preliminary engineering is finally under way for the Eisenhower Expressway expansion project, the next huge highway reconstruction planned for the Chicago area.

A preliminary study released by the Illinois Department of Transportation finds that a north-south expressway connecting the Jane Addams Tollway to the Tri-State Tollway on the west side O’Hare International Airport would significantly cut travel times to the airport. In addition, a long-planned extension of the Elgin-O’Hare Expressway would contribute to halving travel times for [...]

The Indiana Department of Transportation have halted all maintenance activities and work in construction zones through sunrise Tuesday. Depending on the stage of construction some work zones cannot be removed and will remain in place with road restrictions. INDOT and construction crews said in a news release that both directions of Interstate 65 between Ind. [...]

Commuters who have relied on 159th Street to avoid Bishop Ford Freeway construction will have another headache to deal with beginning Tuesday. The Illinois Department of Transportation on Thursday announced that 159th Street between Park Avenue and West/Center Avenue in Harvey will be closed from Sept. 8 through May 2011. Eastbound motorists will be detoured [...]

Motorists traveling through Plainfield will face construction for about five days beginning Sept. 9. Work crews will close Fraser Road just west of Illinois Route 59 to pour concrete for new pavement. During the closure, local traffic will be permitted access from the west. A posted detour will use a combination of Illinois Route 59, [...]

Riddled with potholes and crumbling, 47th Ward Ald. Gene Schulter hopes to see the Western Avenue overpass gone. According to a report last month on the Chicago Tribune’s Web site, Schulter said the overpass that carries motorists over Belmont has cost the city millions of dollars in repairs and lowered real estate values over the [...]