IDOT details $1.2 billion I-80 plan

People are happy the state is improving Interstate 80 but could be happier.

More lanes, more noise barriers and more alternative routes are among suggestions made Wednesday at the first of two public hearings on the $1.2 billion project.

The Illinois Department of Transportation will hold the second public hearing 4 to 7 p.m. Thursday at All Nation Church of God Community Center, 503 Water St., Joliet.

The Thursday hearing is in the heart of the area where 43 homes and one business building will be displaced by the replacement of the Des Plaines River bridges.

As did the event held Wednesday at the Holiday Inn & Suites, it will combine a public hearing with an open house featuring a room full of poster boards and tables of maps outlining the complicated project.

I-80 construction from New Lenox to Minooka is tentatively slated to begin in 2023 and estimated to last about five years.

“It’s a little overwhelming with all the things they have going,” Tim Buck of Wilmington said as he looked over the maps Wednesday.

Buck, as did others, noted that the plan provides for extra lanes some places but not everywhere.

“Three or four lanes over the [Des Plaines River] bridges are nice,” he said. “But you go down to Route 30, and it’s two lanes. I don’t understand it.”

Auxiliary lanes are being added where new interchanges are built to increase safety for merging traffic from Interstate 55 to Briggs Street.

The Des Plaines River bridges will have four lanes in each direction, but the road will narrow to three lanes past the bridges.

Steve Jevens of Morris predicted during a public comment period that the narrowing to two lanes east of Briggs Street will lead to “traffic backed up like you wouldn’t believe.”

IDOT engineers don’t think so.

Steve Schilke, a project manager for I-80, said IDOT prioritized improvements based on available funding. But the entire stretch of I-80 will have additional capacity for future expansion.

“That’s why we have these extra wide shoulders,” Schilke said. “Everything’s flat. It’s compatible with adding a third lane.”

Interchanges will be rebuilt at I-55, Houbolt Road, Larkin Avenue, Center Street, Chicago Street, Richards Street and Briggs Street.

Beyond the highly publicized Des Plaines River bridge replacement, bridges will be replaced, repaired or widened at 24 locations along the route.

“I noticed they’ll do some improvements on the Gougar Road bridge,” Deborah Scheckel of New Lenox said. “We can see that [bridge] is deteriorating.”

IDOT will add 8 miles of noise wall, but some I-80 neighbors don’t think it’s enough.

“I think we’re being cheated on the noise walls,” said John Zilm of Troy Township, who wants IDOT to provide noise protection at more locations including where he lives. “When the ambulances and fire trucks are going around, you can’t even talk in the yard.”

Construction tentatively is scheduled to begin in 2023, although Schilke said that is not a firm date. Some sections could start earlier, including improvements from Chicago Street to Rowell Road that were being planned before funding came through for the entire project.

Other parts such as replacement of the Des Plaines River bridges could start later depending on the time it takes to acquire private property needed for construction.

The entire project is expected to take about five years.

IDOT plans to keep two lanes open in each direction during the course of the project.

But Laura Sperstad, who lives in the Sugar Creek subdivision just outside of Joliet and not far from I-80, expects to see more traffic than what spills into the side streets now when interstate traffic is congested.

Sperstad filled out a form provided at the hearing to submit her comments on the project in writing and asked that IDOT designate alternative routes.

“We’re getting a lot of traffic,” she said, “and I think we’re going to see a lot more when I-80 is under construction.”