6 Years to Fix I-290 ?? Oy Vey!
JG
"This won't be the complete rebuilding project on the Eisenhower --
that won't come for another six years. Rebuilding means more than
resurfacing, and involves tearing up the expressway and rebuilding
from the concrete up, including new drainage and new bridges.
...
We're just getting started on a three-year planning process," said
Peter Harmet, bureau chief of programming for IDOT. After the planning
will be three years of design work and acquisition of property before
the project gets started.
The Eisenhower pavement between Mannheim and Cicero is 50 years old
and needs to be rebuilt, said Hamet. Widening is a possibility, as are
high-occupancy vehicle and/or bus rapid transit lanes.
"With a major rebuilding, there's a possibility to do things that
would be a real asset to the community," said Harmet. There's also the
certainty of great disruption, which is why IDOT is doing all these
meetings.
The Eisenhower is four lanes in each direction until about Austin, and
then narrows to three lanes in each direction, before widening out
again after Mannheim. "
Rick Powell
> http://www.suntimes.com/news/transportation/1872906,CST-NWS-ride09.ar...
I'll be there at the public informational meeting on the 18th.
RP
JG
Traffic getting there is too heavy, so I'll pass.
My comments are:
1. Four general purpose lanes to match the profile east of Austin. You
can save some overhead bridge rebuilding by making the
shoulder.....lane number 4.
Maybe a HOV/HOT 5th lane based on traffic projections.
2. Mass Transit: Increase Metra BNSF to 30 minute headways weekdays,
60 minutes weekends. Similiar increases to UP West line and Milwaukee
Road West line. Consider shorter train sets, every run doesn't need 7
cars.
An interesting article about the last viewgraph treatise:
IDOT announces 'new look' at Eisenhower
State study could threaten consensus in 5-year Cook, DuPage corridor
study
http://forestparkreview.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=38&ArticleID=4499
"The new IDOT I-290 study comes in the wake of the cancellation of a
planned Phase 3 alternatives study by members of the Cook DuPage
Corridor Study.
That analysis of alternatives will not be conducted now, because of
financial pressures the RTA is facing. Loss of that Phase 3 study
effectively transfers planning authority and direction to IDOT, which
has a history of choosing roads over rapid rail.
An extensive transportation planning report, the Cook DuPage Corridor
Study, looked at the possible extension of the Blue Line rapid-rail
system west to DuPage County. That report was generated through work
done over the last four years and had collected public input. The
report was paid for by the Regional Transportation Authority.
An IDOT press release, however, suggests the state will disregard any
information gathered in that process.
"It's important to remember that this study will take a new look at
the transportation needs and will not be influenced, or bound by, any
prior studies and reports," an IDOT engineer said in the press
release.
Observers say that comment pertains to both the discontinued Cook
DuPage Corridor Study and to a 1998 IDOT study that recommended high-
occupancy vehicle lanes.
By undertaking its own public input study, IDOT may gain the upper
hand in applying for federal funding for added vehicular lanes on the
Eisenhower, a development that could have enormous repercussions in
Forest Park and other towns located along the highway."