The Illinois Tollway has announced plans for its 2011 Congestion-Relief Program (CRP), which has been reduced from $6.3 billion to $5.8 billion to reflect actual savings from projects completed and closed, anticipated project savings from future closeouts, a decrease in projected revenues due to the slow economy and the elimination of the design engineering for future work on the Jane Addams Memorial Tollway (I-90) Corridor.
By the end of 2010, the Illinois Tollway had completed nearly $5 billion in improvements on the Tollway’s roads on time and on budget, resulting in more efficient travel and a smoother ride for motorists. The CRP is nearly 85% complete.
CRP projects will continue through 2016. In 2011, work will include resurfacing I-90 from Barrington Road to the Elgin Toll Plaza and from U.S. 20 to Genoa Road, as well as design for resurfacing on I-90 from the Kennedy Expressway to Barrington Road.
An estimated $105 million of the $192 million budgeted for the CRP in 2011 will be spent on I-90. The work is scheduled to begin in April between Genoa Road and U.S. 20 and between the Elgin Toll Plaza and Barrington Road and includes repairing and resurfacing 27 miles of mainline pavement and rehabilitating 25 bridge structures. This work is scheduled to be complete by the end of this year.
The remaining $87 million budgeted for the CRP will be spent on landscape projects and other systemwide improvements.
Changes to the scope of work on I-90 in the CRP include the elimination of $151.9 million previously allocated for design engineering work associated with a full reconstruct and widening of I-90. Funding in the current CRP is sufficient to address pavement surface issues for the next five to seven years.
“Pavement on I-90 will be undergoing a fifth rehabilitation, which is beyond industry norms and unprecedented on the Tollway system,” said Illinois Tollway Executive Director Kristi Lafleur. “By the end of the CRP, this pavement will be nearing 60 years old. The Tollway’s staff has done a tremendous job of maintaining the roadway and addressing the most pressing needs, and the upcoming work will allow us to continue to provide our customers with a smooth ride.”
About the Tollway’s Congestion-Relief Program:
The Illinois Tollway’s $5.8 billion Congestion-Relief Program - Open Roads for a Faster Future, is reducing travel times by rebuilding and restoring nearly all of the system, adding lanes to many miles of existing roads, converting 22 toll plazas to barrier-free open-road tolling and extending I-355 south to I-80 in Will County.
