IDOT chief gives Joliet a construction report on I-80, other projects

The state transportation secretary was in Joliet on Wednesday to give a progress report on highway and bridge projects inside, outside and through the city.

“I can easily say we have the entire city of Joliet surrounded, and I mean that in a good way,” Omer Osman, head of the Illinois Department of Transportation, told an audience at the monthly luncheon for the Joliet Region Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Osman proceeded to list the many projects in progress or planned for the Joliet area.

“There are many of them in Joliet, and there are more to come,” he said.

Osman backed up his “Joliet surrounded” claim as he provided updates on projects well underway and just beginning.

• From the east side to the west side, the Interstate 80 project, which includes new bridges over the Des Plaines River and new interchanges as well as additional lanes, is expected to be “substantially complete by the end of 2028 – we hope,” he said.

• On the south end of the city, IDOT will hold a public hearing Thursday on planned improvements for Route 53 from Patterson Road to past the city limits of Joliet, and Osman encouraged people to attend the forum, which is from 4 to 7 p.m. at the Stone City Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 2199, 124 Stone City Drive, Joliet.

• To the north, IDOT engineers are working on a new interchange at Interstate 55 and Airport Road in Romeoville, a $200 million project that Osman said “is fully funded.”

• Inside Joliet, IDOT is modernizing the downtown drawbridges with remote control capability, a project that will require temporary closings of three of the bridges this year.

Osman said he appreciated the city’s patience with IDOT work on the downtown bridges, a nod to city complaints about repeated closures of the bridges, which are about a century old.

The many construction projects often tie up traffic in and around Joliet.

Chamber board President Kristen Hamilton, however, commented on the influence of infrastructure work on the local economy.

“Economic development is why we are here,” Hamilton said. “That’s what we do. The roads and infrastructure around us affect that.”

It was Osman’s second visit to a chamber event to give a presentation on projects in the area.

“Joliet and Will County appreciate transporation and what it means to the community,” he said.

The Joliet-area projects are part of a Rebuild Illinois prograrm that was approved in 2019, which Osman described as “literally a game-changer for all of us.”

“It literally put our department back in the business of building a world-class transportation system,” Osman said.