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| Northwest Tollway won't be widened anytime soon | |
| Sep 8, 2007 | |
| Joseph Ryan, staff writer jryan@dailyherald.com | |
| Daily Herald | |
| Pertains to Jane Addams, Rosemont, Des Plaines, Mount Prospect, Elk Grove Village, Arlington Heights, Rolling Meadows, Shaumburg, Hoffman Estates, South Barrington, Elgin, Huntley | |
| Northwest Tollway drivers may wait another decade for an extra lane, but motorists on the Tri-State, Reagan and North-South toll roads will be landing upgrades sooner, under a new roadwork plan approved Friday. The construction changes indicate no need for toll hikes to fund suburban roadwork projects until at least 2016. At the same time, the new roadwork plan exposes up to $500 million in construction cost overruns in the last three years. The new roadwork plan is a two-year extension of an ongoing 10-year construction package paid for by the doubling of cash tolls in 2005. Tollway officials have nixed the $715 million widening of the Northwest Tollway between the Kennedy Expressway and Elgin. The project was expected to be completed between 2009 and 2011. Tollway spokeswoman Joelle McGinnis said the project is being put off indefinitely because of Metra's planned STAR Line, which will run along the Northwest between O'Hare and Elgin. "It would be silly for us to rebuild and widen a road just to tear it up again," McGinnis said. The STAR Line is in the planning stages but still nearly a decade from construction. In the meantime, the new plan calls for crews to resurface the Northwest Tollway in 2011. On the budget side, tollway officials reported about $500 million in unexpected construction costs that they attribute to recent skyrocketing expenses for fuel, steel and labor. But looking ahead, the overrun and the new construction are expected to be financed under the current toll rates. Gov. Rod Blagojevich doubled tolls for cash payers in 2005 to fund the ongoing construction plan, but I-PASS users continue to pay the same rate. "I think we are in good shape on the financial side," said Michael Colsch, the tollway's chief financial officer. In total, the new roadwork plans will add another $755 million to the original $5.3 billion roadwork plan. Among the largest additions: the central Tri-State, I-294, will be resurfaced between 95th Street and Balmoral Avenue in 2015; the North-South, I-355, will get an additional lane between 75th Street and the Reagan Memorial; and the Reagan will get another lane on a small stretch east of Aurora. Tollway officials have also budgeted $46.5 million to help cover the costs of a Tri-State interchange at I-57. Ongoing roadwork to widen the Reagan Memorial and northern Tri-State and the soon-to-be-open southern extension of I-355 are also part of the roadwork plan. |
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