I-490 Tollway Construction Moving Forward with Touhy Avenue Project Groundbreaking
Regional collaboration is continuing to drive progress on the new I-490 Tollway.
The Illinois Tollway, Cook County and local, state and federal partners are celebrating the groundbreaking of the Touhy Avenue Project – a nearly $100 million investment that will improve local mobility, enhance safety and is also a critical piece of the Tollway’s I-490 Tollway Project.
“The Illinois Tollway and Cook County have a successful track record for advancing joint initiatives that enhance mobility for drivers and deliver meaningful benefits for communities,” said Illinois Tollway Executive Director Cassaundra Rouse. “Working together again, this Touhy Avenue Project is integral to construction of the new I-490 Tollway and the completion of our $4.3 billion Elgin O’Hare Western Access Project that will improve north-south traffic around the western border of O’Hare International Airport and create long-awaited western access into the airport.”
The Touhy Avenue Project will allow the Illinois Tollway to complete the northern leg of the new tollway and will complement the benefits resulting from I-490 providing significant reductions in traffic congestion and improved traffic flow.
Cook County’s Touhy Avenue improvements include construction of a new bridge that will carry Touhy Avenue over the I-490 Tollway, as well as a new bridge eliminating an at-grade railroad crossing and improving traffic flow along the busy corridor. The Tollway will construct new ramps connecting Touhy Avenue to the new I-490 Tollway in coordination with Cook County’s construction.
More than 32,000 vehicles travel this stretch of Touhy Avenue daily, making the corridor a critical link in the regional transportation network for residents, businesses and freight operators serving the region’s extensive industrial district north and west of O’Hare.
The Touhy Avenue Project is the result of a multi-agency partnership between the Illinois Tollway, Cook County, the Illinois Department of Transportation, Chicago Department of Aviation, Union Pacific Railroad, Elk Grove Township, Elk Grove Village and the City of Des Plaines.
See the Cook County press release here.