Plan for Plainfield-Romeoville I-55 interchanges raises traffic congestion concerns

The state has big plans for more Interstate 55 interchanges in Will County, but the project got a mixed reaction at a public hearing Wednesday.

The Illinois Department of Transportation is moving ahead with plans to build two interchanges aimed at serving the growing numbers of residents and workers in Plainfield, Romeoville and Bolingbrook.

One would be a new interchange at Lockport Street/Airport Road on the Plainfield-Romeoville border.

The other would create a full interchange at Route 126, which now has only two ramps in an area where sections of Plainfield, Romeoville and Bolingbrook converge.

“We’re not going to allow all this traffic to come off of I-55 into our downtown.”

—  John Argoudelis, Plainfield mayor

The plan is welcomed by many as one that will give easier I-55 access for area commuters and ease the congestion at the Weber Road interchange.

But it also faces challenges in Plainfield, where the village threatens to block off Lockport Street unless a bypass is built to keep the I-55 traffic from flowing into an already congested downtown.

Lockport Street also is the main street in downtown Plainfield, which already is choked by traffic coming through the village on Illinois 59 and U.S. 30.

“We’re not going to allow all this traffic to come off of I-55 into our downtown,” said Plainfield Mayor John Argoudelis, who was among local officials who attended the open-house forum held at the Ovation Center in Romeoville.

“It’s been discussed now for about a quarter of a century since Bolingbrook and Romeoville brought it up in the 1990s.”

—  John Noak, Romeoville mayor

Argoudelis talked at length at the hearing with Steven Schilke, IDOT bureau chief of programming.

Schilke later said the Plainfield demand for a bypass is a “recent” development but one that IDOT will try to address.

“There are things that we have to further investigate,” Schilke said.

The interchange plans themselves are not new, although they are creeping closer to reality.

Both interchanges are in IDOT’s six-year plan. If plans move ahead smoothly, Schilke said construction could be three years away and the interchanges could open in six years.

Despite local opposition voiced during the hearing, the interchanges were initiated as a local idea a long time ago, said Romeoville Mayor John Noak.

“It’s been discussed now for about a quarter of a century since Bolingbrook and Romeoville brought it up in the 1990s,” Noak said.

Noak said Romeoville backs both interchanges, although he also supports Plainfield’s bid for a bypass road to divert traffic away from the village’s downtown.

Concerns over traffic congestion

Not all Romeoville residents like the idea of an Airport Road interchange.

The interchange would be built on the border of Romeoville at Airport Road, and the border of Plainfield, which is Lockport Street.

Dawn Firlit, who lives in a Lakewood Falls subdivision off Airport Road, said she is against the interchange because it will increase traffic on a route that already is so busy that she has trouble exiting her neighborhood.

“I came from Chicago,” Firlit said. “I came because it was quieter, less traffic and more open space.”

Barry Kloper, who lives in a Romeoville subdivision off Airport Road, said the new interchange plans would enhance safety in the immediate area.

Kloper said the frontage road intersection at Airport Road is a hazardous crossing, where he has witnessed accidents.

“It’s more accidents waiting to happen,” Kloper said.

The IDOT plan would close the East Frontage Road.

Meanwhile, Romeoville plans to extend nearby Budler Road so as to make it an alternative route farther from the interstate and safer. The frontage road crossing is hazardous in large part because Airport Road traffic is shielded by a rise in the road before it comes over the interstate.

The west frontage road that goes by Four Seasons Park would remain open and have a traffic light on the other side of I-55, which is Lockport Street.

Four Seasons Park is a Plainfield Park District facility with several playing fields for baseball and softball.

The IDOT plan would require some reconfiguration of the parking lots at the park but would not touch the playing fields.

The Route 126 interchange also poses the likelihood of increasing traffic on a road that runs through downtown Plainfield.

The village of Plainfield, however, already has begun building a bypass that will offer Route 126 traffic an alternative route to avoid the downtown traffic crunch.

Argoudelis said the village does not object to the Route 126 interchange improvements.

But Plainfield resident Kevin Calkins objects, saying the Route 126 interchange inevitably will add to traffic congestion downtown.

“All of the improvements that they are doing are forcing traffic into downtown Plainfield,” Calkins said.

Romeoville resident Don Honig said he believed the two interchanges will relieve traffic congestion overall.

“You have to look at the whole scope of the area,” Honig said.

The IDOT presentation pointed to future growth as a key factor in building the new interchanges.

According to IDOT, the population of Plainfield, Romeoville and Bolingbrook is projected to increase from 159,000 in 2020 to 191,000 in 2050. The workforce in the three village is projected to grow from 53,000 in 2020 to 66,000 in 2050.