Illinois Tollway’s 2022 construction grabbing headlines

Illinois Tollways 2022 construction grabbing headlines

Sprawling construction along the Central Tri-State Tollway (I-294) and on the new I-490 Tollway is drawing the attention of drivers and media outlets.

It’s hard to miss—towering cranes and massive backhoes are common sights for drivers as the Illinois Tollway invests nearly $1.5 billion in 2022 to improve and expand its system, with much of that work occurring along I-294, where the agency is widening and reconstructing 22 miles of roadway between Rosemont and Oak Lawn.

More work is underway to continue constructing I-490, a new Tollway that will skirt O’Hare Airport and, when completed, provide new access to the airport while also creating new links to existing highways.

Construction during what Interim Executive Director Lanyea Griffin has dubbed the Tollway’s “busiest year” was highlighted by The Daily Herald in its annual overview of Chicago area road work that driver can expect to see.

The Herald story noted that “the rising star on the Tollway’s roster is I-490, a road on O’Hare International Airport’s western flank that will connect with the Jane Addams (I-9) and Tri-State (I-294) tollways to the north and south, and to Route 390 in the center.”

Read the Herald story here.

In its story, the Chicago Tribune also focused on the large-scale, multi-year projects the Tollway is undertaking to relieve congestion and create greater access to local communities and to O’Hare Airport.

“Work will continue this spring and summer on ongoing highway projects like the Tri-State Tollway construction and widening, (and) creation of a new tollway near O'Hare International Airport,” the Tribune story noted.

The Chicago Tribune story is available here.

The Journal & Topics Newspapers focused on the construction and economic impact of the new I-490 Tollway in a story featured prominently in its annual Progress edition, a special  56-page supplement describing infrastructure projects occurring across the Northwest suburbs.

The story noted that while I-490 will provide new access to O’Hare Airport, there also will be related improvements made to nearby local roads like Touhy Avenue that will assist suburbs and businesses located near O’Hare.

“Local municipal officials see a greater benefit to easing traffic congestion in the Northwest suburbs that the new roads, and associated ramp and feeder projects, are expected to bring,” the story said.

The Journal & Topics story is available here

An error occurred while processing the template.
Failed to "?eval" string with this error:

---begin-message---
Syntax error in ?eval-ed string in line 1, column 53:
Lexical error: encountered "u" (117), after "\"Reaching New Milestones \\".
---end-message---

The failing expression:
==> imageJSON?eval  [in template "20157#20197#1153404" at line 152, column 41]

----
FTL stack trace ("~" means nesting-related):
	- Failed at: #assign imageStr = imageJSON?eval  [in template "20157#20197#1153404" at line 152, column 21]
----
1<#-- 
2Widget templates can be used to modify the look of a 
3specific application. 
4 
5Please use the left panel to quickly add commonly used variables. 
6Autocomplete is also available and can be invoked by typing "${". 
7--> 
8 
9<style> 
10    img { 
11        max-width: 100%; 
12        width: auto\9; 
13        height: auto; 
14        vertical-align: middle; 
15        border: 0; 
16        -ms-interpolation-mode: bicubic; 
17
18 
19    .image-large{ 
20        width: 100% 
21
22 
23    .image-medium{ 
24        padding-top: 10px; 
25        max-height: 100%; 
26
27 
28    .image-small{ 
29	    display: block; 
30		width: 100%; 
31		height: 0px; 
32		background-size: cover; 
33		background-position: center; 
34		background-repeat: no-repeat; 
35        padding-bottom:100%; 
36
37 
38    .separator { 
39        border-top: 1px dotted #bfbfbf !important; 
40
41 
42    /* Avoid buttons being croped in small devices*/ 
43    .taglib-page-iterator .lfr-pagination-buttons>li>a{ 
44        width: auto !important; 
45
46 
47    @media screen and (max-width: 750px) { 
48        .navbar-search.pull-right{ 
49            max-width: 100%; 
50
51
52 
53    @media screen and (max-width: 979px){ 
54        .form-search .btn[type="submit"]{ 
55            display: block !important; 
56            position: inherit !important; 
57            margin-top: 10px !important; 
58 
59            -webkit-border-radius: 14px 14px 14px 14px !important; 
60            -moz-border-radius: 14px 14px 14px 14px !important; 
61            border-radius: 14px 14px 14px 14px !important; 
62
63 
64        .navbar-search.pull-right{ 
65            max-width: 90%; 
66
67
68 
69    .entry-content { 
70        margin-bottom: 0px; 
71
72    .entry-body p { 
73        line-height: 18px; 
74        margin-bottom: 10px; 
75
76 
77     .entry-date { 
78        color: #999; 
79
80  .entry-footer:after { 
81    display: inline; 
82    content: initial; 
83
84 
85    .pagination-bar { 
86        align-items: center; 
87        display: flex; 
88        flex-wrap: wrap; 
89        clear: both; 
90        height: auto; 
91        width: auto; 
92
93 
94    .pagination-bar .pagination .page-item .page-link{ 
95        color: #009c34; 
96
97     .pagination-bar .pagination .page-item .page-link:hover { 
98        color: #0B3D16; 
99        text-decoration: none; 
100
101     .pagination-bar .pagination .page-item .page-link:focus { 
102        box-shadow: 0 0 0 0.2rem #28a7453d; 
103
104    .pagination-bar .pagination .page-item.disabled .page-link { 
105        color: #6c757d; 
106
107    .page-link:active, .page-link.active, .nav-underline .tab.active a.page-link { 
108        background-color: #009c34; 
109        border-color: #009c34; 
110
111     .entry-title h2 { 
112    margin-right: 0px;  
113
114    .page-item.active .page-link, .nav-underline .tab.active a.page-item .page-link, .page-item.show .page-link { 
115        background-color: #009c34; 
116        border-color: #009c34; 
117        color: #FFF !important; 
118        cursor: default; 
119        z-index: 3; 
120
121    .twitter-share-button.twitter-share-button-rendered.twitter-tweet-button { 
122        width: initial !important; 
123
124 
125</style> 
126 
127 
128    <#if entries?has_content> 
129     
130    <h3 style="color:black !important;">PREVIOUS POSTS</h3> 
131     
132    <#list entries as curEntry> 
133    <#-- -- > ${curEntry?index} --> 
134    <div class="entry col-md-12" style="padding-bottom: 10px;"> 
135    <div class="" style="padding-right: 0px; padding-left: 0px;"> 
136        <#assign 
137            assetRenderer = curEntry.getAssetRenderer() 
138            journalArticle = assetRenderer.getAssetObject() 
139            doc = saxReaderUtil.read(journalArticle.getContentByLocale("en_US")) 
140            rootElement = doc.getRootElement() 
141            dynamicElements = rootElement.elements() 
142        /> 
143         
144       
145    
146     
147        <#list dynamicElements> 
148            <#items as dynamicElement> 
149                
150                <#if "BigImage" == dynamicElement.attributeValue("name") > 
151                    <#assign imageJSON = dynamicElement.element("dynamic-content").getText()> 
152                    <#assign imageStr = imageJSON?eval> 
153                    <#assign imageURL = "/c/document_library/get_file?uuid=" + imageStr.uuid+ "&groupId=" + imageStr.groupId/> 
154                    
155 
156                    <div class="col-md-4 col-sm-12" style="padding-right: 0px; padding-left: 0px;"> 
157 
158 
159						<div class="image-small" style="background-image: url(&quot;${imageURL}&quot;)"> 
160 
161						</div> 
162					</div> 
163 
164                       
165                    
166                </#if> 
167 
168 
169                
170 
171                <#if "Title" == dynamicElement.attributeValue("name") > 
172                    <#assign title = dynamicElement.element("dynamic-content").getText()> 
173                     <div class="col-md-8 col-sm-12"> 
174 
175                    <div class="entry-content"> 
176                        <div class="entry-title"> 
177                            <h2><a href="${themeDisplay.getPortalURL()+"/-/"+assetRenderer.getUrlTitle()}" style="color: #009c34">${title}&nbsp;</a></h2> 
178                        </div> 
179                    </div> 
180 
181 
182 
183                </#if> 
184               
185                <#if "DisplayDate" == dynamicElement.attributeValue("name") > 
186                    <#assign displayDate = dynamicElement.element("dynamic-content").getText()> 
187                     
188                     
189                    	<div class="entry-footer"> 
190							<span class="entry-date"> 
191	                    	<span class=" lfr-portal-tooltip" title="Date"> 
192						            <img id="mefv__column1__1" src="https://www.illinoistollway.com/o/istha-public/images/common/date.png" alt="Date" title="Date"> 
193		                            <span class="taglib-text hide-accessible">Date</span> 
194		                      </span> 
195                              ${displayDate} 
196							</span> 
197						</div> 
198                  
199                 </div> 
200                </#if> 
201                 
202            </#items> 
203            <div class="col-md-12 col-sm-12"> 
204                <div class="separator"><!-- --></div> 
205            </div> 
206        </#list> 
207    </div> 
208    </div> 
209    </#list> 
210</#if>