Illinois notes

[JoePCool14]

"Are the Controls for the Freeways still Wisconsin, Indiana, and West Suburbs?"

Now Aurora instead of 'west burbs'. By the way it's the 2nd largest city in IL, near 200k people. Elgin should be used instead of Rockford on 290 at 294 westbound.

I don't agree with using Elgin on 290, unless we start talking secondary versus primary. Elgin would be a good control for 390 and 20.

Thank you for correcting me about using Aurora, I forgot that one change was made. I think I can be satisfied with that. You could put Rockford and Milwaukee for 90/94 northbound, but 90/94 southbound, there's nothing that would make sense. Too many possibilities: Indianapolis, Detroit, Toledo, or even closer but smaller cities like South Bend.

[paulthemapguy]

Regarding the Circle Interchange, a coworker told me the other day that a bunch of big wigs recently held a ribbon cutting ceremony for the new interchange (within the last week).  The timing of the news story might because of the timing of the ribbon cutting ceremony.  The timing of this ceremony may be a little inappropriate, unless the intent was to recognize only the interchange, separate from additional ongoing work to the north of it.

[CtrlAltDel]

"Are the Controls for the Freeways still Wisconsin, Indiana, and West Suburbs?"

Now Aurora instead of 'west burbs'. By the way it's the 2nd largest city in IL, near 200k people. Elgin should be used instead of Rockford on 290 at 294 westbound.

I don't agree with using Elgin on 290, unless we start talking secondary versus primary. Elgin would be a good control for 390 and 20.

Thank you for correcting me about using Aurora, I forgot that one change was made. I think I can be satisfied with that. You could put Rockford and Milwaukee for 90/94 northbound, but 90/94 southbound, there's nothing that would make sense. Too many possibilities: Indianapolis, Detroit, Toledo, or even closer but smaller cities like South Bend.

The issue with using Aurora for I-290 is that I-290 does not go anywhere especially near Aurora. It leads you to the route that will take you there, but that is not what I think control cities (or states) should be about.

[ilpt4u]

"Are the Controls for the Freeways still Wisconsin, Indiana, and West Suburbs?"

Now Aurora instead of 'west burbs'. By the way it's the 2nd largest city in IL, near 200k people. Elgin should be used instead of Rockford on 290 at 294 westbound.

I don't agree with using Elgin on 290, unless we start talking secondary versus primary. Elgin would be a good control for 390 and 20.

Thank you for correcting me about using Aurora, I forgot that one change was made. I think I can be satisfied with that. You could put Rockford and Milwaukee for 90/94 northbound, but 90/94 southbound, there's nothing that would make sense. Too many possibilities: Indianapolis, Detroit, Toledo, or even closer but smaller cities like South Bend.

The issue with using Aurora for I-290 is that I-290 does not go anywhere especially near Aurora. It leads you to the route that will take you there, but that is not what I think control cities (or states) should be about.

If Aurora is the Control for the Circle going WB, then the Ike should be renumbered I-88. I doubt it ever happens, tho

[triplemultiplex]

If Aurora is the Control for the Circle going WB, then the Ike should be renumbered I-88. I doubt it ever happens, tho

If 88 hadn't been such a late-comer, it for sure would've continued on the Ike into The Loop.  Like if the initial outlay of numbers included two interstates between Chicago and the Quads, they'd have wanted the northern of the two to keep going into Chicago proper rather than piddling out at a beltline.
But yeah, not like they're ever gonna change it at this point. Too much inertia for too little benefit.

[JoePCool14]

Aurora on 290 might not make sense from a number perspective, but it does make sense when you look at a map. If you're going to Rockford, take 90. If you're going to Aurora, take 290 to 88.

Generally speaking, trying to piece together control cities in Chicagoland is very difficult. Most suburbs blend in together and it's hard to pick them out individually. The only control on the north side that's worth anything is Waukegan, that one is easy. O'Hare is also logical. But aside from those, what else can you use? Straight south isn't much easier. The only cities of prominence out west are Aurora and Naperville, which I think should be used more. Schaumburg might also be an acceptable choice. I'd also be remiss if I didn't mention Elgin.

But overall, it's quite difficult, and you can see why NW/SW Suburbs became so common.

[ET21]

They were still putting rebar and pouring concrete up by Washington St for the median between the exit lanes/thru traffic unless they finish all that in 5 days. 

I was out of town last week, but I saw them stripping the forms on the end of that barrier up by Washington on Saturday, so they presumably poured that on Friday.  I've found it interesting how quickly many individual pieces of the project go given how slowly the whole thing has gone.  (I will say over the past couple months they've been working a bunch of overtime and doing a good bit of Saturday work, I think so they would be able to reopen things before the end of the year

That is interesting, will have to look on my walk to work tomorrow.

[edwaleni]

If Aurora is the Control for the Circle going WB, then the Ike should be renumbered I-88. I doubt it ever happens, tho

If 88 hadn't been such a late-comer, it for sure would've continued on the Ike into The Loop.  Like if the initial outlay of numbers included two interstates between Chicago and the Quads, they'd have wanted the northern of the two to keep going into Chicago proper rather than piddling out at a beltline.
But yeah, not like they're ever gonna change it at this point. Too much inertia for too little benefit.

There is a story behind that.

The East-West Tollway (then IL-5) was originally supposed to terminate at I-294 just north of Hinsdale.  But when ISTHA first showed the routing plans the then mayor of Oak Brook (Butler) convinced them that the new road would split his fairly young town in 2. So ISTHA moved the routing north. This is why I-88 takes a large NE jog at Downers Grove with plans to connect it with the Congress Expressway Extension from Central Avenue to Mannheim Road along with the big south connector with I-294 at Cermak Road. This was to convince people not to shun the East-West by getting off at Ogden Ave (US-34). Remember this was the 1950's and the nature of these far western suburbs was significantly different. However Cook County had a different idea. Mayor Daley didn't like the idea of any expressway that made it easier for people to leave Chicago to live. For years that E-W connector at Hillside was 1 lane only. There were no technical or structural issues to having it 2 lanes, simply political. It was Governor Ryan who cut a deal to get the "Strangler" removed because by that time 40 years later, the suburbs were no longer Chicago enemy #1.

IDOT had planned (since 1940) for the Congress Extension to feed the future West Suburban Expressway where it would meet with their pre-Tollway suburban bypass plan (IL-83 Kingery Highway) and service then US-30 ALT (now IL-38 Roosevelt Road) as a major arterial. The West Suburban Expressway (future US-30) is now where IL-56 is located (Butterfield Road) and was to continue west to IL -25, just north of Aurora, considered at the time, the extreme exurb of Chicago.

After ISTHA was established, many of IDOT's plans for expressways were rolled back and most of them (and the land they acquired) became major suburban arterials.

In 1941, just before WW2 broke out IDOT was working with several railroads to get them elevated in anticipation of these future non-tolled expressways.

This is why you see bridges like this:

US-12 (Northwest Highway)


IL-56 (West Suburban Expressway, planned US-30)

[Hobart]

"Are the Controls for the Freeways still Wisconsin, Indiana, and West Suburbs?"

Now Aurora instead of 'west burbs'. By the way it's the 2nd largest city in IL, near 200k people. Elgin should be used instead of Rockford on 290 at 294 westbound.

I don't agree with using Elgin on 290, unless we start talking secondary versus primary. Elgin would be a good control for 390 and 20.

Thank you for correcting me about using Aurora, I forgot that one change was made. I think I can be satisfied with that. You could put Rockford and Milwaukee for 90/94 northbound, but 90/94 southbound, there's nothing that would make sense. Too many possibilities: Indianapolis, Detroit, Toledo, or even closer but smaller cities like South Bend.

At the risk of sounding crazy, I'm going to throw my hat in the ring for 90/94 southbound: Gary. It's the easternmost "city" both highways run into, and Gary, although it is barely a place anybody would want to go, has significance because a lot of people know where it is, and you can get to a lot of different cities from there.

Is it a good option? No. Is it the best we have compared to what else is in store? Yeah, unless you put "Toledo - Detroit" on all of the signs.

[hobsini2]

"Are the Controls for the Freeways still Wisconsin, Indiana, and West Suburbs?"

Now Aurora instead of 'west burbs'. By the way it's the 2nd largest city in IL, near 200k people. Elgin should be used instead of Rockford on 290 at 294 westbound.

I don't agree with using Elgin on 290, unless we start talking secondary versus primary. Elgin would be a good control for 390 and 20.

Thank you for correcting me about using Aurora, I forgot that one change was made. I think I can be satisfied with that. You could put Rockford and Milwaukee for 90/94 northbound, but 90/94 southbound, there's nothing that would make sense. Too many possibilities: Indianapolis, Detroit, Toledo, or even closer but smaller cities like South Bend.

At the risk of sounding crazy, I'm going to throw my hat in the ring for 90/94 southbound: Gary. It's the easternmost "city" both highways run into, and Gary, although it is barely a place anybody would want to go, has significance because a lot of people know where it is, and you can get to a lot of different cities from there.

Is it a good option? No. Is it the best we have compared to what else is in store? Yeah, unless you put "Toledo - Detroit" on all of the signs.

Gary was a secondary control for I-80 from Joliet so having it as a control for I-94 after the I-57 JCT would make sense. But from Downtown, it should be just Indiana-Memphis (or Kankakee or Champaign) since the West Leg of the Ryan is I-57.

[ET21]

Drove through the Jane Byrne JCT last night on the Dan Ryan going north, pretty impressed by everything. 4 through lanes with a 2 lane split off for the local exits, its essentially a mini express lane section from Roosevelt/Taylor to Ohio St. Part of me thinks there will be some resurfacing to be done next summer as some sections are still a little rough.

[paulthemapguy]

When you consider the average life expectancy of a layer of asphalt pavement, and you take almost that long to complete the interchange reconstruction, you're pretty much bound to get some parts of the interchange that are nearly due for a resurfacing already...

[maths22]

Drove through the Jane Byrne JCT last night on the Dan Ryan going north, pretty impressed by everything. 4 through lanes with a 2 lane split off for the local exits, its essentially a mini express lane section from Roosevelt/Taylor to Ohio St. Part of me thinks there will be some resurfacing to be done next summer as some sections are still a little rough.

In the spring they will be doing northbound resurfacing from the end of the new concrete to ~Ohio street.  They got the southbound part done this year but not northbound. I assume it was delayed because of this summer's materials strike that prevented asphalt and concrete work from happening for ~1 month it.  They can do resurfacing with only nighttime lane closures so that shouldn't cause major traffic impacts.

[SSOWorld]

Drove through the Jane Byrne JCT last night on the Dan Ryan going north, pretty impressed by everything. 4 through lanes with a 2 lane split off for the local exits, its essentially a mini express lane section from Roosevelt/Taylor to Ohio St. Part of me thinks there will be some resurfacing to be done next summer as some sections are still a little rough.

In the spring they will be doing northbound resurfacing from the end of the new concrete to ~Ohio street.  They got the southbound part done this year but not northbound. I assume it was delayed because of this summer's materials strike that prevented asphalt and concrete work from happening for ~1 month it.  They can do resurfacing with only nighttime lane closures so that shouldn't cause major traffic impacts.

I was miffed at the site of "Dusable Lake Shore Drive" on a sign at the I-55 interchange.  Please IDiOT, leave it alone!

I did SB Kennedy on 12/30 at 6:30 AM (easy 45 mph drive but still heavy traffic)  I am curious why the local lane NB but not SB.

Plus All of NE ILL was more focused on a "MISSING ENDANGERED PERSON" than on travel times.

[Crash_It]

Drove through the Jane Byrne JCT last night on the Dan Ryan going north, pretty impressed by everything. 4 through lanes with a 2 lane split off for the local exits, its essentially a mini express lane section from Roosevelt/Taylor to Ohio St. Part of me thinks there will be some resurfacing to be done next summer as some sections are still a little rough.

In the spring they will be doing northbound resurfacing from the end of the new concrete to ~Ohio street.  They got the southbound part done this year but not northbound. I assume it was delayed because of this summer's materials strike that prevented asphalt and concrete work from happening for ~1 month it.  They can do resurfacing with only nighttime lane closures so that shouldn't cause major traffic impacts.

I was miffed at the site of "Dusable Lake Shore Drive" on a sign at the I-55 interchange.  Please IDiOT, leave it alone!

How about you worry more about your state fixing up their miles of beat up roads rather than IDOT doing the right thing by recognizing the founder of a city.

[LilianaUwU]

Drove through the Jane Byrne JCT last night on the Dan Ryan going north, pretty impressed by everything. 4 through lanes with a 2 lane split off for the local exits, its essentially a mini express lane section from Roosevelt/Taylor to Ohio St. Part of me thinks there will be some resurfacing to be done next summer as some sections are still a little rough.

In the spring they will be doing northbound resurfacing from the end of the new concrete to ~Ohio street.  They got the southbound part done this year but not northbound. I assume it was delayed because of this summer's materials strike that prevented asphalt and concrete work from happening for ~1 month it.  They can do resurfacing with only nighttime lane closures so that shouldn't cause major traffic impacts.

I was miffed at the site of "Dusable Lake Shore Drive" on a sign at the I-55 interchange.  Please IDiOT, leave it alone!

How about you worry more about your state fixing up their miles of beat up roads rather than IDOT doing the right thing by recognizing the founder of a city.

Nobody in their right mind would call it anything but Lake Shore Drive or LSD.

[Max Rockatansky]

Drove through the Jane Byrne JCT last night on the Dan Ryan going north, pretty impressed by everything. 4 through lanes with a 2 lane split off for the local exits, its essentially a mini express lane section from Roosevelt/Taylor to Ohio St. Part of me thinks there will be some resurfacing to be done next summer as some sections are still a little rough.

In the spring they will be doing northbound resurfacing from the end of the new concrete to ~Ohio street.  They got the southbound part done this year but not northbound. I assume it was delayed because of this summer's materials strike that prevented asphalt and concrete work from happening for ~1 month it.  They can do resurfacing with only nighttime lane closures so that shouldn't cause major traffic impacts.

I was miffed at the site of "Dusable Lake Shore Drive" on a sign at the I-55 interchange.  Please IDiOT, leave it alone!

How about you worry more about your state fixing up their miles of beat up roads rather than IDOT doing the right thing by recognizing the founder of a city.

Hey guess what?  WalletHub found Wisconsin to be superior to Illinois to drive in.  It must have been that extra flatness that got Illinois bumped down, what a pity:

https://wallethub.com/edu/best-worst-states-to-drive-in/43012?fbclid=IwAR0kW6o-f-apIPZYcIx16vvNkchgbvcdB5CfHMc-s3e_U5qbpSL_maZ65uI&mibextid=Zxz2cZ

Now I know what you're thinking "I should argue this since it goes against my pro-Illinois beliefs."    You should consider what such an action might do to with your flock of Wallethubism followers.  As you put it before, Wallethub is never wrong and and irrefutable fact.  Sorry, about the bitter pill to swallow.

[Brandon]

Drove through the Jane Byrne JCT last night on the Dan Ryan going north, pretty impressed by everything. 4 through lanes with a 2 lane split off for the local exits, its essentially a mini express lane section from Roosevelt/Taylor to Ohio St. Part of me thinks there will be some resurfacing to be done next summer as some sections are still a little rough.

In the spring they will be doing northbound resurfacing from the end of the new concrete to ~Ohio street.  They got the southbound part done this year but not northbound. I assume it was delayed because of this summer's materials strike that prevented asphalt and concrete work from happening for ~1 month it.  They can do resurfacing with only nighttime lane closures so that shouldn't cause major traffic impacts.

I was miffed at the site of "Dusable Lake Shore Drive" on a sign at the I-55 interchange.  Please IDiOT, leave it alone!

I did SB Kennedy on 12/30 at 6:30 AM (easy 45 mph drive but still heavy traffic)  I am curious why the local lane NB but not SB.

Plus All of NE ILL was more focused on a "MISSING ENDANGERED PERSON" than on travel times.

Yeah, the missing person alerts are really annoying.  Odds are, we're not going to see the vehicle, we might see a similar vehicle causing a false alarm, and most will forget the car and plate soon after passing the sign.  Travel times and road incidents would be far more useful to the average motorist.

As for DuSable, he spent maybe a decade in the area.  Then he picked up and left for St Charles, Missouri with his family.  He's actually buried there.  Plus, there's already a DuSable Harbor, DuSable Park, DuSable High School, DuSable Museum, and DuSable Bridge.  Renaming Lake Shore Drive was unnecessary and rather silly.

[GeekJedi]

How about you worry more about your state fixing up their miles of beat up roads rather than IDOT doing the right thing by recognizing the founder of a city.

I-55 and I-80 in Will County have joined the chat...

[JoePCool14]

I saw the DuSable LSD signs on 94 and 55, and they look ridiculous. I really hate that they did that, and did such a piss-poor job on top of it.

Plus All of NE ILL was more focused on a "MISSING ENDANGERED PERSON" than on travel times.

This. I can't tell you how annoying this is. It seems like every other day there's one of these alerts going on.

[Crash_It]

Drove through the Jane Byrne JCT last night on the Dan Ryan going north, pretty impressed by everything. 4 through lanes with a 2 lane split off for the local exits, its essentially a mini express lane section from Roosevelt/Taylor to Ohio St. Part of me thinks there will be some resurfacing to be done next summer as some sections are still a little rough.

In the spring they will be doing northbound resurfacing from the end of the new concrete to ~Ohio street.  They got the southbound part done this year but not northbound. I assume it was delayed because of this summer's materials strike that prevented asphalt and concrete work from happening for ~1 month it.  They can do resurfacing with only nighttime lane closures so that shouldn't cause major traffic impacts.

I was miffed at the site of "Dusable Lake Shore Drive" on a sign at the I-55 interchange.  Please IDiOT, leave it alone!

How about you worry more about your state fixing up their miles of beat up roads rather than IDOT doing the right thing by recognizing the founder of a city.

Nobody in their right mind would call it anything but Lake Shore Drive or LSD.

Only reason people are against it is because of the color of his skin. I remember similar objections being made about Ida B Wells Dr. Not as many people would flip out if it were renamed to Richard J Daley Lake Shore Drive.

I do the the thing as well in two of my latest videos and one upcoming one as well (possibly two).

https://youtu.be/9b_DlQU-5M4

https://youtu.be/F8VjZt0I_Jw

[Max Rockatansky]

Drove through the Jane Byrne JCT last night on the Dan Ryan going north, pretty impressed by everything. 4 through lanes with a 2 lane split off for the local exits, its essentially a mini express lane section from Roosevelt/Taylor to Ohio St. Part of me thinks there will be some resurfacing to be done next summer as some sections are still a little rough.

In the spring they will be doing northbound resurfacing from the end of the new concrete to ~Ohio street.  They got the southbound part done this year but not northbound. I assume it was delayed because of this summer's materials strike that prevented asphalt and concrete work from happening for ~1 month it.  They can do resurfacing with only nighttime lane closures so that shouldn't cause major traffic impacts.

I was miffed at the site of "Dusable Lake Shore Drive" on a sign at the I-55 interchange.  Please IDiOT, leave it alone!

How about you worry more about your state fixing up their miles of beat up roads rather than IDOT doing the right thing by recognizing the founder of a city.

Nobody in their right mind would call it anything but Lake Shore Drive or LSD.

Only reason people are against it is because of the color of his skin. I remember similar objections being made about Ida B Wells Dr. Not as many people would flip out if it were renamed to Richard J Daley Lake Shore Drive.

People tend to be a lot more receptive to your arguments if you don't shit on the state they reside first.  It's like you thought the forum collectively forgot you had a Wisconsin hate boner.  The fact you dug up a random post that disagreed with something IDOT did only makes that Wisconsin hate boner more apparent.

[Crash_It]

Drove through the Jane Byrne JCT last night on the Dan Ryan going north, pretty impressed by everything. 4 through lanes with a 2 lane split off for the local exits, its essentially a mini express lane section from Roosevelt/Taylor to Ohio St. Part of me thinks there will be some resurfacing to be done next summer as some sections are still a little rough.

In the spring they will be doing northbound resurfacing from the end of the new concrete to ~Ohio street.  They got the southbound part done this year but not northbound. I assume it was delayed because of this summer's materials strike that prevented asphalt and concrete work from happening for ~1 month it.  They can do resurfacing with only nighttime lane closures so that shouldn't cause major traffic impacts.

I was miffed at the site of "Dusable Lake Shore Drive" on a sign at the I-55 interchange.  Please IDiOT, leave it alone!

How about you worry more about your state fixing up their miles of beat up roads rather than IDOT doing the right thing by recognizing the founder of a city.

Nobody in their right mind would call it anything but Lake Shore Drive or LSD.

Only reason people are against it is because of the color of his skin. I remember similar objections being made about Ida B Wells Dr. Not as many people would flip out if it were renamed to Richard J Daley Lake Shore Drive.

People tend to be a lot more receptive to your arguments if you don't shit on the state they reside first.  It's like you thought the forum collectively forgot you had a Wisconsin hate boner.  The fact you dug up a random post that disagreed with something IDOT did only makes that Wisconsin hate boner more apparent.

It wasn't dug up, it was a post on plain sight.

[Max Rockatansky]

I'm seeing December 22nd on the top of that quote string, seems it got me mixed up on when SSO made his post. 

Either way, how was your hostile reply to someone from Wisconsin who didn't agree with you warranted?  Maybe I'm the crazy one thinking that deliberately calling out a admin/moderator from Wisconsin for no particular reason is unsound logic?  More so when you almost got run out here for prior transgressions on the forum.

Perhaps you didn't notice, but when you were quietly posting normal behind the wheel highway videos upon your return everyone left you alone.  The trolling and "Illinois is flat"  jokes didn't come back out until you went back to taking jabs at your least favorite state. 

[Crash_It]

I'm seeing December 22nd on the top of that quote string, seems it got me mixed up on when SSO made his post. 

Either way, how was your hostile reply to someone from Wisconsin who didn't agree with you warranted?  Maybe I'm the crazy one thinking that deliberately calling out a admin/moderator from Wisconsin for no particular reason is unsound logic?  More so when you almost got run out here for prior transgressions on the forum.

Perhaps you didn't notice, but when you were quietly posting normal behind the wheel highway videos upon your return everyone left you alone.  The trolling and "Illinois is flat"  jokes didn't come back out until you went back to taking jabs at your least favorite state.

So you don't think that calling IDOT IDiOT for recognizing the founder of a state's largest city to be inappropriate? Especially when considering that IDOT has accomplished more in the last few years than WiSDOT. Miles upon miles of WIS32 which is a major tourist route destination is in disrepair while in IL the same tourist route has been resurfaced.