The state of Illinois has given the green light to a new toll bridge linking Interstate 80 to the CenterPoint intermodal facility in Joliet and Elwood.
The Houbolt Road bridge agreement, announced Monday, is designed to alleviate traffic congestion on local roads and fuel continued growth for the booming truck and train transportation hub, officials said.
The public-private project will cost $170 million to $190 million, with CenterPoint building and operating the toll bridge over the Des Plaines River. The Illinois Department of Transportation is covering $21 million of that cost to widen Houbolt Road and reconfigure the existing interchange with I-80 to handle increased traffic demand.
Construction could begin next year, providing a direct route to the sprawling CenterPoint facility south of I-80 in late 2018 or early 2019, officials said. About 11,000 vehicles are expected to use the bridge initially, including more than 6,600 trucks. That traffic count is projected to essentially triple by 2040.
While a benefit to the Will County economy, CenterPoint has been a burden to local roads and communities, with thousands of trucks rumbling daily down two indirect routes from I-80. The primary route is along Interstate 55 south to Arsenal Road, but trucks coming from the east also use Illinois Highway 53, where the heavy volume of traffic has taxed roads and rattled residents, prompting stricter weight limit enforcement.
