Watch for Fourth of July Weekend Tollway Construction

By DENNIS ROBAUGH (Patch National Staff)

Thursday begins the Fourth of July travel rush, and the Illinois Tollway is expecting 5.9 million vehicles to hit the road this holiday weekend, a more than 7 percent increase from the 5.5 million vehicles on the road during last year’s Fourth of July holiday weekend.

The heaviest travel is anticipated on Thursday, July 2, when nearly 1.9 million vehicles are projected to be on the road. On an average day, about 1.5 million vehicles use the Tollway.

Construction activity will be restricted over the weekend. Temporary maintenance and construction lane closures will be suspended from noon on Thursday through 9 a.m. on Monday, July 6. Some work may continue behind barricades to keep work on schedule.

Drivers are also urged to “expect the unexpected” and slow down when traveling through construction work zones and drive the posted speed limit.

Areas where work zones will continue during the holiday include:

Jane Addams Memorial Tollway (I-90)

• Between the Tri-State Tollway (I-294) and Illinois Route 31, three lanes of traffic are available in both directions, but traffic is shifted at various points to provide construction work zones.
• At the Elmhurst Road Interchange, all traffic is shifted onto the new southbound Elmhurst Road Bridge over I-90 and is using newly constructed ramps on the east side of the bridge to travel to and from the east on I-90.
• At the Illinois Route 59 Interchange, ramps carrying northbound and southbound Illinois Route 59 traffic to eastbound I-90 are currently closed and traffic is detoured via Higgins Road and Beverly Road to reach eastbound I-90.
• At the Illinois Route 25 Interchange, the ramp carrying Illinois Route 25 traffic to westbound I-90 is currently closed and traffic is detoured via the Illinois Route 31 Interchange to reach westbound I-90.
• At the Illinois Route 31 Interchange, ramps carrying traffic in both directions on Illinois Route 31 to westbound I-90 and traffic traveling from westbound I-90 to southbound Illinois Route 31 are closed and traffic is rerouted within the interchange to accommodate the ramp closures with a traffic signal directing traffic.
• At the Genoa Road Interchange near Belvidere, construction is underway with new ramps open for traffic traveling to and from the east.

Tri-State Tollway (I-94/I-294/I-80)

• The ramp carrying southbound I-294/I-80 traffic onto Illinois Route 394 is reduced to one lane.

Reagan Memorial Tollway (I-88)

• Between Illinois Route 251 near Rochelle and Chicago Avenue (U.S. Route 52) near Dixon, traffic is reduced to one lane in both directions.

Elgin O’Hare Western Access Project – Illinois Route 390

• Between Lake Street (U.S. Route 20) and I-290, traffic shifts are in place at various points on Illinois Route 390.
• On I-290, eastbound traffic exiting to Illinois Route 390 is shifted onto a single ramp. At the end of the ramp, vehicles use the same traffic signal, with westbound traffic directed to turn right and eastbound traffic directed to turn left.
• On I-290 at Illinois Route 390, both directions are shifted and the shoulders are closed.

Tollway Travel Information

The Tollway offers the following ways for drivers to get the latest travel information before they get on the road:

• www.illinoistollway.com – Construction/Planning section, Tollway Trip Calculator, live roadway images and real-time roadway incident information
• 1-800-TOLL-FYI – Daily lane closure and travel information
• www.travelmidwest.com – Real-time travel times
• www.twitter.com – Real-time roadway incident information at Tollway Trip 90, Tollway Trip 88, Tollway Trip 355 and Tollway Trip 94/294