Interstate 355

Template:Infobox Interstate/Intrastate Interstate 355 (abbreviated I-355), also commonly known as the Veterans Memorial Tollway, is an interstate highway and tollway located in the western and southwest suburbs of Chicago, USA. Like other tollways in northeastern Illinois, it is run by the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority. I-355 runs from Interstate 80 in New Lenox north to Interstate 290 in Addison. This is a distance of 32.5 miles (52.3 km). The highway is six lanes wide for its entire length.

I-355 was opened in 1989 as the North-South Tollway to ease congestion on Illinois Route 53, a north-south two-lane state highway in central DuPage County. The highway, initially running from I-55 to I-290, cut travel times along the Schaumburg-Wheaton-Bolingbrook corridor. On November 11, 2007, a southern extension to I-355 opened from I-55 to I-80, a distance of 12.5 miles (20.1 km); on opening the southern extension, the highway was renamed to the Veterans Memorial Tollway. The extension was built through Will County and a small portion of Cook County, one of the fastest-growing regions in Illinois. ISTHA expects the extension to cut travel times in the region 20 percent.

Although the interstate is known for being a tollway, the tollway portion actually starts at the Army Trail Road toll barrier, 2 miles (3 km) south of the northern terminus. Exits to U.S. Route 20 (Lake Street) in both directions and Army Trail Road from the north are free, and pre-existed on the freeway portion of old Illinois 53.

Map of I-355.

History

Early history

From 1923 through 1963, the north-south transportation corridor including eastern portions of DuPage County was serviced via Rohlwing Road (also known as SBI Route 53, and later Illinois 53), a major north-south two-lane arterial that still exists in the county today. From 1963 to 1970, a new expressway was built north from Army Trail Road through Schaumburg to the Northwest Tollway (now the Jane Addams Memorial Tollway). When it was completed, Illinois 53 was moved onto this new expressway from Rohlwing Road.

I-355 was commissioned in 1989 to ease pressure on nearby Illinois 53, and to a lesser extent, to ease pressure on the rapidly-growing Tri-State Tollway (Interstate 294). A new expressway was built from the southern extent of the existing expressway at Army Trail Road, south to Interstate 55 near Woodridge. During construction, the highway had to be built around the ecologically sensitive and low-lying DuPage River valley, as well as the Morton Arboretum. In addition, Illinois 53 was moved back onto Rohlwing Road from Army Trail Road on the south to Biesterfield Road on the north. The initial length of I-355 was 20.01 miles (32.20 km) from I-55 north to I-290.

Governor James R. Thompson and U.S. Secretary of Transportation Samuel K. Skinner dedicated the tollway on December 22, 1989. The total cost of building 17.7 miles (28.5 km) of new pavement was $450 million.

Opening

I-355 opened at the stroke of midnight on December 24, 1989. As a Christmas "gift," the first two days of operation were completely free. Initially, the road was a four-lane highway from Illinois Route 64 (North Avenue) to Interstate 88 (Ronald Reagan Memorial Tollway), even though it was built wide enough to be six lanes wide; thus, within the first few years, the two-lane wide shoulders were converted to the third lane in each direction due to overcrowding. The old lines marking the former shoulder can still be seen in the right lane as a result of the Tollway Authority's attempt to grind them away.

As one of the newer tollways in the system, the Veterans Memorial Tollway has also seen considerable improvements earlier than the other tollways. Around the late 1990's, the Veterans Memorial Tollway became the first tollway to have dedicated I-PASS lanes installed; only a few years later, it become the first tollway (and second installation behind the lesser-used Edens Spur) to have I-PASS Express Lanes, a form of open road tolling (ORT).

The Tollway Authority's grander vision of ORT was also instituted first on the Veterans Memorial Tollway in 2005, when the express lanes were widened from two lanes to three lanes in each direction. This allowed the number of express lanes to match the number of travel lanes on the tollway, which was one of the goals of ORT.

No Illinois Tollway Oases were constructed on the Veterans Memorial Tollway. This is primarily due to the widespread access to food and fuel throughout the western suburbs when construction began in the late 1980's.

Southern extension

Des Plaines River Valley Bridge during Roll the Tollway opening ceremonies on November 11, 2007.

The concept of a route that ran from Schaumburg south to Joliet had been considered as early as 1962 (27 years before the northern portion of I-355 was built) as part of the Chicago Area Transportation Study, an ongoing committee that examines transportation issues in the Chicago metro area. After the northern portion of I-355 opened in 1989, the Illinois General Assembly authorized the tollway authority to begin studying the southern extension of I-355.

The discovery of the Hine's Emerald Dragonfly, an endangered species, and related concerns for the environmental health of the Des Plaines River wetlands in 1995 ignited a series of legal challenges that delayed construction of the I-355 extension for several years. The Sierra Club filed a lawsuit in 1996 to block planning of the southern extension. In January 1997, a federal judge sided with the Sierra Club, halting construction of the southern extension while the state appealed. In 1999, the state dropped its appeal and amended the environmental impact study (EIS) to meet the Sierra Club's concerns. The supplemental EIS was released in 2000, and in 2002 the FHWA issued a Record of Decision, allowing construction of the tollway to proceed after six years of delays. Land acquisition and utility relocation took place in 2004. Governor Rod Blagojevich's $5.6 billion Congestion-Relief Program for the Illinois Tollway was passed in September 2004, with $729.3 million being set aside for the extension. Bidding on an excavation contract passed on November 18, 2004 with construction beginning several days later.

To document and reduce the impact of construction on the dragonfly's habitat, construction crews agreed to keep carcasses of any dragonfly kills. In addition, separate habitats for the dragonfly were developed near the Waterfall Glen Forest Preserve in Lemont and in two other preserves in Cook and Will counties. In late 2005, construction began on the roadway of the 12.5 miles (20.1 km) long southern extension of I-355 from I-55 in Bolingbrook to I-80 in New Lenox.

Another controversy erupted in February 2006, when the Tollway Authority threatened to build the tollway with no interchanges unless the suburbs through which the new extension ran contributed $20 million for construction of the interchanges. This was the first time that the Tollway Authority had required local municipalities to contribute funds for interchange construction. The towns and Will County later agreed to provide the money needed for the interchanges.

New malls are currently planned in New Lenox and local property values are expected to increase in the area given the new access to the western and northwestern suburbs.

One of the most notable features of the new highway is the Des Plaines River Valley Bridge, a bridge over the Des Plaines River, the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, the Illinois and Michigan Canal, Bluff Road, New Avenue, numerous railroads, and a major Commonwealth Edison utility corridor. The bridge is 1.3 miles (2.1 km) long, and constituted $125 million of the cost. Work on the bridge included the construction of 34 piers and elevation of existing high-voltage electricity lines to accommodate the highway. In order to limit the number of piers in the valley, the bridge was built with both 170 feet (52 m) pre-stressed bulb tee girders and 270 feet (82 m) post-tensioned segmental concrete girders. This was $12 million less expensive than the concrete box girder design option, and $50 million less expensive than the steel plate girder design option. A design-build clause in the original contract for the bridge, in addition to success in the design-build contracts on the Tri-State Tollway widening and reconstruction, allowed project managers to redesign and build the new bridge.

A ribbon cutting and dedication ceremony was held on Veterans Day, 2007 (November 11, 2007), when the entire length of I-355 was officially renamed the Veterans Memorial Tollway. Ceremonies were held on the tollway near the 127th Street interchange in Lemont, at 147th Street in Homer Glen, and at U.S. Route 6 in New Lenox. In addition to the dedication, the day's activities included a Charity Walk/Run/Roll and "Roll the Tollway," a charity pre-opening bicycle ride on the highway's south extension. After noting the success of the festival, ISTHA announced plans to repeat the event annually, including the closure of the entire southern extension. At 11:00 pm on November 11, a group of Illinois State Police vehicles escorted the first motorists along the I-355 extension, signifying the highway was officially open.

As part of constructing the southern extension, a 20 feet (6 m) wide corridor was donated to local municipalities for the construction of a bicycle trail that will run along most of the length of the tollway from I-80 to I-55. Completion of the trail is expected to cost $10 million, with funding to be provided by local communities along the path. A new construction fund for the trail was created from registration fees collected for "Roll the Tollway."

Route description

Interstate 355 at the Illinois Prairie Path, looking south towards Downers Grove in the distance.

The southern terminus of I-355 is located northeast of New Lenox, where I-355 intersects I-80. I-355 is routed north and slightly west through rural, hilly portions of Will County. Just after the U.S. Route 6 interchange, tollway drivers pay a toll at Spring Creek Toll Plaza, the only toll plaza on the southern extension of I-355. I-355 continues north through the rural sections of Will County, having exits that serve the towns of Homer Glen and Lockport. At 135th Street in Lemont, Interstate 355 briefly enters Cook County. After an interchange at 127th Street, I-355 crosses over the Des Plaines River on the Des Plaines River Valley Bridge before returning to Will County. Shortly north of the bridge, I-355 intersects I-55 at Bolingbrook. Multiple flyover ramps connect all directions of both highways.

North of I-55, I-355 continues to run almost due north through the established western suburbs of Chicago in DuPage County. Travelers pay another toll just north of Boughton Road, at the Boughton Road Toll Plaza. Continuing north, I-355 has another multiple flyover interchange with I-88, commonly called the Ronald Reagan Memorial Tollway. On the southern end of the interchange, northbound I-355 has exits to both directions of I-88. I-355 then swings below I-88 and runs side-by-side with the other tollway for 1 mile (2 km). Southbound exits to both directions of I-88 are located at the northern end of the interchange. At the Army Trail Road Toll Plaza, through traffic pays the last toll of the tollway. I-355 has no tolls north of the Army Trail Road exit in Addison. There is one free exit at U.S. Route 20 (Lake Street) north of the tollway. I-355 terminates at the I-290 interchange near the villages of Itasca and Addison.

The northernmost two toll plazas (Boughton Road and Army Trail Road) charge $1.00 cash and $0.50 for cars with I-PASS and E-ZPass. The Spring Creek Toll Plaza charges $2.00 for cash and $1.00 for I-PASS and E-ZPass. All three toll plazas force traffic paying with cash to exit to a manned toll plaza away from the mainline. I-PASS and E-ZPass equipped cars and trucks are permitted to stay on the mainline and pay tolls at highway speeds in the tollway's Open Road Tolling lanes.

Exit list

Exits on the Veterans Memorial Tollway are not numbered.

County	Location	Plaza #	Mile	Destinations	Notes
I-355 southern terminus
Will
	New Lenox		0.0	I-80 — Joliet, Indiana
		101	1.0	US 6 — Southwest Highway	Tolls on southbound entrance, northbound exit ramps
	Lockport	99	3.5	Spring Creek Toll Plaza
		97	5.0	IL 7 — 159th Street	Tolls on southbound exit, northbound entrance ramps
	Homer Glen	95	7.5	IL 171 — Archer Avenue 143rd Street	Tolls on southbound exit, northbound entrance ramps. Frontage road connects both roads.
Cook	Lemont	93	9.0	127th Street	Tolls on southbound exit, northbound entrance ramps
			12.0	Des Plaines River Valley Bridge
Will
	Bolingbrook		12.5	I-55 — St. Louis, Chicago	Flyover ramps to both directions of I-55
		89	13.5	Boughton Road Toll Barrier
		90	14.0	Boughton Road	Tolls on southbound entrance, northbound exit ramps
DuPage	Woodridge	87	15.5	75th Street — Darien	Tolls on southbound exit, northbound entrance ramps
		85	17.0	63rd Street — Downers Grove	Tolls on southbound exit, northbound entrance ramps
	Lisle, Downers Grove	83	18.5	Maple Avenue	Tolls on southbound exit, northbound entrance ramps
			19.5	US 34 — Ogden Avenue
	Downers Grove		19.5 NB, 23.0 SB	I-88 — Aurora, Chicago	Interstate 88 and Interstate 355 run side-by-side for over two miles at this point
		79	23.0	IL 56 — Butterfield Road	Interchange is part of Interstate 88 collector-distributor ramp southbound, and part of eastbound Interstate 88 entrance ramp northbound. Tolls on southbound entrance, northbound exit ramps.
	Glen Ellyn, Lombard	77	25.0	IL 38 — Roosevelt Road	Tolls on southbound entrance, northbound exit ramps
	Glendale Heights	75	28.0	IL 64 — North Avenue	Tolls on southbound entrance, northbound exit ramps
		73	29.0	Army Trail Road Toll Barrier
	Bloomingdale, Addison		30.0	Army Trail Road	No access from northbound I-PASS express lanes.
			31.5	US 20 — Lake Street	Partial collector-distributor interchange southbound; standard diamond interchange northbound.
	Addison		32.5	I-290 — Rockford, Chicago
I-355 northern terminus. Expressway continues north onto I-290 westbound and east onto I-290 eastbound.

External links

• Illinois Tollway Highway Authority
• Illinois Highway Ends: Interstate 355