I-80 project expands to accommodate increased traffic load

The future Interstate 8­0 through Joliet will have an additional lane in each direction, an expansion of the original plan when the project was announced.

The bad news for local I-80 motorists is that construction will intensify this summer. The good news is that the future payoff has gone up with the addition of a third lane.

The 16-mile I-80 project through Joliet and beyond in Will County will result in three lanes in each direction instead of the original plan to keep it at two lanes with auxiliary lanes to ease access at interchanges.

Auxiliary lanes still will be added at key interchanges in Joliet.

The reconstruction of lanes started this month on the west end of the project, which runs from Ridge Road in Minooka to Route 30 in New Lenox.

In addition to more lanes, the I-80 improvements include new interchanges and new bridges, including a replacement of the bridges over the Des Plaines River.

Lane reconstruction on the 12 miles of highway that start this year will continue through 2026. A final 2 miles of lane reconstruction leading up to new Des Plaines River bridges in Joliet will be completed in 2028, when the bridge replacement is completed.

“The new lanes won’t be implemented until the end of the project,” said Steven Schilke, bureau chief of programming for the Illinois Department of Transportation.

IDOT plans to keep two lanes open in each direction during construction, meaning I-80 will remain two lanes until 2028.

The plan for the third lanes was added since the project was first announced in 2019.

“Before 2019, there were limited resources that we had,” Schilke said.

IDOT originally designed the project so that third lanes could be added in the future, but the future has arrived with additional funding for what is now a $1.3 billion project.

More lanes for more traffic

The finished project should make a big difference for I-80 motorists, who in addition to driving a two-lane road often get onto the interstate from interchanges designed in the 1970s, when traffic was lighter and entrance ramps were relatively short. Auxiliary lanes are designed to provide incoming traffic more room to get onto the interstate.

Auxiliary lanes will be added in Joliet at Houbolt Road and at other interchanges between Larkin Avenue and Briggs Street.

Lane reconstruction will be completed up and down 12 miles of the project through 2026.

Although construction started last week on the west end of the project, road crews will be working on the entire corridor simultaneously.

“There’s definitely going to be work on the 12 miles throughout the year,” said John Schumacher, bureau chief of construction for IDOT District 1.

Although two lanes will remain open during the day, there will be additional nighttime closures, he said.

Lane reconstruction schedule

• Ridge Road in Minooka to River Road in Shorewood, to be completed in 2025.

• River Road to Wheeler Avenue in Joliet, to be completed in 2026.

• Wheeler Avenue to Rowell Avenue in Joliet, to be completed in 2028 with the completion of new Des Plaines River bridges and surrounding interchanges.

• Rowell to Gougar Road in New Lenox, to be completed in 2025.

• Gougar to Route 30 in New Lenox was completed in 2021.

The new lanes will be built with continually reenforced concrete pavement designed to last 40 years.

The existing lanes originally were built with concrete, Schilke said, but later repairs included asphalt overlays so that the original concrete has been covered up for years.

“We always start with concrete,” he said, noting that the new lanes eventually will require asphalt overlays as well.