The Illinois Tollway has completed traffic management installation and testing of 29 digital message signs between Barrington Road and O'Hare International Airport.
The traffic management displays will provide real-time traffic updates and safety advisories, and will direct drivers to shift lanes when crashes occur. The traffic management system will go live around the end of July or early August, according to Chief Engineer Paul Kovacs.
The agency is adding seven employees to its traffic operations center, which will now run 24 hours a day, seven days a week, instead of just five days. When a crash occurs, the traffic management system will shift traffic to avoid trouble spots, displaying green arrows for open lanes and red X's to indicate closed ones. A larger message board on the far outside lanes will give updates on travel times, collisions and Amber Alerts.
The active transportation management system will cost about $33 million.
Pace is collaborating with the tollway and will be routing express buses on the I-90 shoulder or "flex" lanes to be designated with digital signs. "We expect to begin operating in the Flex Lane late this summer," said Pace spokeswoman Maggie Daly Skogsbakken, adding that bus operators were in training.
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Original Source: Daily Herald
