Illinois notes

[johndoe780]

Didn't Oberweis pass some bill (that Quinn tried to veto) that raised speed limits in Illinois to 70 mph?

I was under the impression that speed limits in rural Illinois were 70 mph, which is fair for the most part.

They are 70 on Interstate highways

70's not bad at all. How high did you expect it to be?

Found a map:
http://chicagoist.com/2014/01/03/here_are_the_illinois_highways_wher.php

[cl94]

Didn't Oberweis pass some bill (that Quinn tried to veto) that raised speed limits in Illinois to 70 mph?

I was under the impression that speed limits in rural Illinois were 70 mph, which is fair for the most part.

They are 70 on Interstate highways

70's not bad at all. How high did you expect it to be?

Found a map:
http://chicagoist.com/2014/01/03/here_are_the_illinois_highways_wher.php

I meant surface highways

[johndoe780]

Didn't Oberweis pass some bill (that Quinn tried to veto) that raised speed limits in Illinois to 70 mph?

I was under the impression that speed limits in rural Illinois were 70 mph, which is fair for the most part.

They are 70 on Interstate highways

70's not bad at all. How high did you expect it to be?

Found a map:
http://chicagoist.com/2014/01/03/here_are_the_illinois_highways_wher.php

I meant surface highways

Depends where. Before speed limits were raised on the tollways, there were adjacent state highways that had the same speed limit as a parallel interstate.

I.e. Golf rd (IL-58) had a speed limit (between Barrington and 59, and I think it was lowered to 50) of 55 mph, same as I-90 2 miles north.

Butterfield road (IL-56) west of 59 had a speed limit of 55 mph, same as I-88 2 miles south.

[Revive 755]

Depends where. Before speed limits were raised on the tollways, there were adjacent state highways that had the same speed limit as a parallel interstate.

This still seems pretty applicable; still no speed limit change on many of the tollways.

I.e. Golf rd (IL-58) had a speed limit (between Barrington and 59, and I think it was lowered to 50) of 55 mph, same as I-90 2 miles north.

I think you are correct (haven't been a fan of IL 58 since the red light camera went up for WB at Barrington Road, and even less so after the cameras went up for both EB and WB at Bartlett Road).  IL 72 does still have a stretch posted at 55 west of IL 59, which is at this time higher than the speed limit on the tollway (45 in the work zone).

Butterfield road (IL-56) west of 59 had a speed limit of 55 mph, same as I-88 2 miles south.

Couple more examples:

* Many sections of US 41 in Lake County are 55, same as most of the parallel I-94 (though US 41 usually sees a reduction to 45 near any signal).

* Part of US 20 between Belvidere and I-39 is posted at 65 with a couple traffic signals, same as parallel I-90

* If built as currently planned the IL 53 extension will continue this trend.

[SSOWorld]

Didn't Oberweis pass some bill (that Quinn tried to veto) that raised speed limits in Illinois to 70 mph?

I was under the impression that speed limits in rural Illinois were 70 mph, which is fair for the most part.

A second bill was passed writing language to default the toll roads to 70 unless ISTHA can prove otherwise, Quinn vetoed that one, the legislature overrode the veto, but ISHTA only proposed additional 65s and 60s - then never implemented them.

[johndoe780]

Didn't Oberweis pass some bill (that Quinn tried to veto) that raised speed limits in Illinois to 70 mph?

I was under the impression that speed limits in rural Illinois were 70 mph, which is fair for the most part.

A second bill was passed writing language to default the toll roads to 70 unless ISTHA can prove otherwise, Quinn vetoed that one, the legislature overrode the veto, but ISHTA only proposed additional 65s and 60s - then never implemented them.

They might be waiting for construction to pass on I-90/EOE as well as the upcoming I-294 widening.

[Joe The Dragon]

I can see waiting for I-90 work to be done but what about I-88? I-294 From I-90 to WI? From golf road to there was 70 before NMSL and WI is going to 70 as well.

I-294 from I-55 to I-80?? I-80 / I-294 to I-94 (end of toll road)  I can see that part going to 65 due to high traffic / trucks / IN being 55?.

[johndoe780]

I just drove on I-90 going to Wisconsin dells and was surprised the illinois side of I-90 being lit and the Wisconsin side being unlit.


I can't remember if I-90 has always been lit. Which interstate highways in Illinois/ITHSA highways are lit and which aren't?

[SSOWorld]

I just drove on I-90 going to Wisconsin dells and was surprised the illinois side of I-90 being lit and the Wisconsin side being unlit.


I can't remember if I-90 has always been lit. Which interstate highways in Illinois/ITHSA highways are lit and which aren't?

I-90 was lit from Rockford to Elgin as part of the 2013-2015 rebuild and I wonder why that is the case.  Can't enjoy a good night drive anymore.  ISHTA did that work.  IDOT doesn't even come close to that quality when it comes to lighting - just putting floodlights up. (varies by district).

WisDOT has a strong preference not to light freeways including bridges and interchanges.  The only areas that are lit are Milwaukee, some of the Beltline in Madison and some of I-41 in Green Bay.  Bridges that are lit are the Frego (I-43 Green Bay), Hoan (I-794), High-Rise (I-94 downtown Milwaukee), Bong (US-2) and Blatnik (I-535 - this one is MnDOT's)  That's only on Freeways.  Local bridges might have lighting on them if the respective local muni installs them.

[Big John]

^^ WI 172 bridge in Ashwaubenon/Allouez is lit.  Plus I-41 in Oshkosh is lit in the vicinity of the Lake Butte des Morts causeway. 

[mgk920]

IMHO, the most extreme example of that is the Los Angeles area - very little of their metro-wide freeway network is streetlit.

Mike

[cl94]

IMHO, the most extreme example of that is the Los Angeles area - very little of their metro-wide freeway network is streetlit.

Mike

Not as extreme, but lights are pretty rare in Upstate New York outside of Rochester. Lights are very hard to find outside of the Buffalo city limits and you won't find anything on Albany freeways. Compare that to Ohio and some other states, which light every interchange and suburban freeway.

[tdindy88]

I'm starting to wonder if that stretch of I-90 from Rockford to Elgin, or even to Chicago for that matter counts as the longest lit-up rural highway in the country. I have no idea if there are other such highways elsewhere, maybe in the Northeast or California but that's quite a distance for lights the whole way. I know the entire Tri-State has lights on them and that goes in and out from semi-rural to suburban near the far northern end. I assume the 41/94 corridor north into Wisconsin doesn't have lighting like that?

[johndoe780]

I just drove on I-90 going to Wisconsin dells and was surprised the illinois side of I-90 being lit and the Wisconsin side being unlit.


I can't remember if I-90 has always been lit. Which interstate highways in Illinois/ITHSA highways are lit and which aren't?

I-90 was lit from Rockford to Elgin as part of the 2013-2015 rebuild and I wonder why that is the case.  Can't enjoy a good night drive anymore.  ISHTA did that work.  IDOT doesn't even come close to that quality when it comes to lighting - just putting floodlights up. (varies by district).

WisDOT has a strong preference not to light freeways including bridges and interchanges.  The only areas that are lit are Milwaukee, some of the Beltline in Madison and some of I-41 in Green Bay.  Bridges that are lit are the Frego (I-43 Green Bay), Hoan (I-794), High-Rise (I-94 downtown Milwaukee), Bong (US-2) and Blatnik (I-535 - this one is MnDOT's)  That's only on Freeways.  Local bridges might have lighting on them if the respective local muni installs them.

And it looks pretty good (LED lights.) As a whole, the costs for maintenance are probably negligible. LED lights last almost 10-15 years, and use 25-42 watts per head (~5000K temperature) as compared to 100 watts and replacement every 5 years when compared to sodium lamps (as well as the ugly yellow temperature~2700K )

I would say having lit highways in rural areas are more important than urban areas especially when it comes to animals such as deer.

And no, I-94 doesn't have any streetlights in Wisconsin.

[ChiMilNet]

I just drove on I-90 going to Wisconsin dells and was surprised the illinois side of I-90 being lit and the Wisconsin side being unlit.


I can't remember if I-90 has always been lit. Which interstate highways in Illinois/ITHSA highways are lit and which aren't?

I-90 was lit from Rockford to Elgin as part of the 2013-2015 rebuild and I wonder why that is the case.  Can't enjoy a good night drive anymore.  ISHTA did that work.  IDOT doesn't even come close to that quality when it comes to lighting - just putting floodlights up. (varies by district).

WisDOT has a strong preference not to light freeways including bridges and interchanges.  The only areas that are lit are Milwaukee, some of the Beltline in Madison and some of I-41 in Green Bay.  Bridges that are lit are the Frego (I-43 Green Bay), Hoan (I-794), High-Rise (I-94 downtown Milwaukee), Bong (US-2) and Blatnik (I-535 - this one is MnDOT's)  That's only on Freeways.  Local bridges might have lighting on them if the respective local muni installs them.

And it looks pretty good (LED lights.) As a whole, the costs for maintenance are probably negligible. LED lights last almost 10-15 years, and use 25-42 watts per head (~5000K temperature) as compared to 100 watts and replacement every 5 years when compared to sodium lamps (as well as the ugly yellow temperature~2700K )

I would say having lit highways in rural areas are more important than urban areas especially when it comes to animals such as deer.

And no, I-94 doesn't have any streetlights in Wisconsin.

ISTHA is notoriously efficient at lighting up the tollways. Besides I-90, IL-390 (Elgin-O'Hare Tollway) is also getting the LED treatment on the existing section as part of the rehab. What's funny is the section at I-290 where IDOT is still using the older sodium lamps on their portion of the construction, it just badly contrasts. I imagine all new ISTHA construction will use LED lighting going forward (probably next will be the I-294 Central Section Rebuild and I'm hoping IL-53 Extension, if they decide to build it). As far as IDOT, their lighting in District 1 is actually pretty efficient (though not quite as modern or elaborate as ISTHA of late). It's anything outside of District 1 that isn't as good, and appears to be "flood lights", although District 8 seems to be coming around on that (see the lighting replacement on I-255).

Overall, IDOT and ISTHA each run circles around other states in terms of lighting the highways, and I'm especially pointing at WI and MO. WI, as noted above, doesn't seem to believe in lighting in most spots in general, except Milwaukee it seems. MO haphazardly lights up interchanges using what appears to be the cheapest lighting material they can find, and one light pole at the end of a ramp does not constitute lighting an interchange (they do this in rural and urban areas). In short, Illinois does a good job of lighting highways, and friends of mine from out of state seem to comment a lot about how much it must cost to light up our roads.

[johndoe780]

I just drove on I-90 going to Wisconsin dells and was surprised the illinois side of I-90 being lit and the Wisconsin side being unlit.


I can't remember if I-90 has always been lit. Which interstate highways in Illinois/ITHSA highways are lit and which aren't?

I-90 was lit from Rockford to Elgin as part of the 2013-2015 rebuild and I wonder why that is the case.  Can't enjoy a good night drive anymore.  ISHTA did that work.  IDOT doesn't even come close to that quality when it comes to lighting - just putting floodlights up. (varies by district).

WisDOT has a strong preference not to light freeways including bridges and interchanges.  The only areas that are lit are Milwaukee, some of the Beltline in Madison and some of I-41 in Green Bay.  Bridges that are lit are the Frego (I-43 Green Bay), Hoan (I-794), High-Rise (I-94 downtown Milwaukee), Bong (US-2) and Blatnik (I-535 - this one is MnDOT's)  That's only on Freeways.  Local bridges might have lighting on them if the respective local muni installs them.

And it looks pretty good (LED lights.) As a whole, the costs for maintenance are probably negligible. LED lights last almost 10-15 years, and use 25-42 watts per head (~5000K temperature) as compared to 100 watts and replacement every 5 years when compared to sodium lamps (as well as the ugly yellow temperature~2700K )

I would say having lit highways in rural areas are more important than urban areas especially when it comes to animals such as deer.

And no, I-94 doesn't have any streetlights in Wisconsin.

ISTHA is notoriously efficient at lighting up the tollways. Besides I-90, IL-390 (Elgin-O'Hare Tollway) is also getting the LED treatment on the existing section as part of the rehab. What's funny is the section at I-290 where IDOT is still using the older sodium lamps on their portion of the construction, it just badly contrasts. I imagine all new ISTHA construction will use LED lighting going forward (probably next will be the I-294 Central Section Rebuild and I'm hoping IL-53 Extension, if they decide to build it). As far as IDOT, their lighting in District 1 is actually pretty efficient (though not quite as modern or elaborate as ISTHA of late). It's anything outside of District 1 that isn't as good, and appears to be "flood lights", although District 8 seems to be coming around on that (see the lighting replacement on I-255).

Overall, IDOT and ISTHA each run circles around other states in terms of lighting the highways, and I'm especially pointing at WI and MO. WI, as noted above, doesn't seem to believe in lighting in most spots in general, except Milwaukee it seems. MO haphazardly lights up interchanges using what appears to be the cheapest lighting material they can find, and one light pole at the end of a ramp does not constitute lighting an interchange (they do this in rural and urban areas). In short, Illinois does a good job of lighting highways, and friends of mine from out of state seem to comment a lot about how much it must cost to light up our roads.

Talk about inefficiency. When (and sodium lamps do often) blow out, wouldn't it just make sense to just convert it to LED right then and there? Initially, you'll get the color mismatch, but over time, it shouldn't matter as the sodium lamps were slowly converted to LED and the savings should pay for itself. As simple as street lights are, there's a ton of safety involved as well as avoidance of accidents. It's the simple things, none of these high tech gizmos such as autonomous driving or lane avoidance gadgets. I'm assuming the costs with LED lights aren't that much. LEDs last 2-3 times longer than traditional sodium lamps and use 1/2 to 2/3rd less power.


LEDs don't "burn" out like traditional bulbs; they slowly dim over time. They're rated at 70% light output until they're deemed past their lifespan. So in other words, you can have LEDS run much much longer than sodium lamps past their rated lifespan and probably no one would even know.

My town is slowly converting our neighborhood street lamps to LED. Instead of just converting it in the traditional sense via big batches, if a street light fails, they just change it out with an LED equivalent. 

[tribar]

I just drove on I-90 going to Wisconsin dells and was surprised the illinois side of I-90 being lit and the Wisconsin side being unlit.


I can't remember if I-90 has always been lit. Which interstate highways in Illinois/ITHSA highways are lit and which aren't?

I-90 was lit from Rockford to Elgin as part of the 2013-2015 rebuild and I wonder why that is the case.  Can't enjoy a good night drive anymore.  ISHTA did that work.  IDOT doesn't even come close to that quality when it comes to lighting - just putting floodlights up. (varies by district).

WisDOT has a strong preference not to light freeways including bridges and interchanges.  The only areas that are lit are Milwaukee, some of the Beltline in Madison and some of I-41 in Green Bay.  Bridges that are lit are the Frego (I-43 Green Bay), Hoan (I-794), High-Rise (I-94 downtown Milwaukee), Bong (US-2) and Blatnik (I-535 - this one is MnDOT's)  That's only on Freeways.  Local bridges might have lighting on them if the respective local muni installs them.

And it looks pretty good (LED lights.) As a whole, the costs for maintenance are probably negligible. LED lights last almost 10-15 years, and use 25-42 watts per head (~5000K temperature) as compared to 100 watts and replacement every 5 years when compared to sodium lamps (as well as the ugly yellow temperature~2700K )

I would say having lit highways in rural areas are more important than urban areas especially when it comes to animals such as deer.

And no, I-94 doesn't have any streetlights in Wisconsin.

ISTHA is notoriously efficient at lighting up the tollways. Besides I-90, IL-390 (Elgin-O'Hare Tollway) is also getting the LED treatment on the existing section as part of the rehab. What's funny is the section at I-290 where IDOT is still using the older sodium lamps on their portion of the construction, it just badly contrasts. I imagine all new ISTHA construction will use LED lighting going forward (probably next will be the I-294 Central Section Rebuild and I'm hoping IL-53 Extension, if they decide to build it). As far as IDOT, their lighting in District 1 is actually pretty efficient (though not quite as modern or elaborate as ISTHA of late). It's anything outside of District 1 that isn't as good, and appears to be "flood lights", although District 8 seems to be coming around on that (see the lighting replacement on I-255).

Overall, IDOT and ISTHA each run circles around other states in terms of lighting the highways, and I'm especially pointing at WI and MO. WI, as noted above, doesn't seem to believe in lighting in most spots in general, except Milwaukee it seems. MO haphazardly lights up interchanges using what appears to be the cheapest lighting material they can find, and one light pole at the end of a ramp does not constitute lighting an interchange (they do this in rural and urban areas). In short, Illinois does a good job of lighting highways, and friends of mine from out of state seem to comment a lot about how much it must cost to light up our roads.

Talk about inefficiency. When (and sodium lamps do often) blow out, wouldn't it just make sense to just convert it to LED right then and there? Initially, you'll get the color mismatch, but over time, it shouldn't matter as the sodium lamps were slowly converted to LED and the savings should pay for itself. As simple as street lights are, there's a ton of safety involved as well as avoidance of accidents. It's the simple things, none of these high tech gizmos such as autonomous driving or lane avoidance gadgets. I'm assuming the costs with LED lights aren't that much. LEDs last 2-3 times longer than traditional sodium lamps and use 1/2 to 2/3rd less power.


LEDs don't "burn" out like traditional bulbs; they slowly dim over time. They're rated at 70% light output until they're deemed past their lifespan. So in other words, you can have LEDS run much much longer than sodium lamps past their rated lifespan and probably no one would even know.

My town is slowly converting our neighborhood street lamps to LED. Instead of just converting it in the traditional sense via big batches, if a street light fails, they just change it out with an LED equivalent.

Illinois isn't so good at the whole do what common sense dictates thing though.

[hobsini2]

Actually, Illinois is changing the sodium lights to the LEDs when they finish a stretch of construction. I-190 is now almost all LED between the terminals and Mannheim Rd.

[ChiMilNet]

Actually, Illinois is changing the sodium lights to the LEDs when they finish a stretch of construction. I-190 is now almost all LED between the terminals and Mannheim Rd.

That stretch of I-190 is maintained by the CDOT (City of Chicago), and not IDOT. It looks like they replaced the light poles and everything with a more modern standard. Bessie Coleman Drive in that area is also seeing the lighting replaced. CDOT is starting to use LED lighting (see Lake Shore Drive) along with the tollway. Now if IDOT would start using it as well...

[ET21]

Actually, Illinois is changing the sodium lights to the LEDs when they finish a stretch of construction. I-190 is now almost all LED between the terminals and Mannheim Rd.

That stretch of I-190 is maintained by the CDOT (City of Chicago), and not IDOT. It looks like they replaced the light poles and everything with a more modern standard. Bessie Coleman Drive in that area is also seeing the lighting replaced. CDOT is starting to use LED lighting (see Lake Shore Drive) along with the tollway. Now if IDOT would start using it as well...

I wonder if they'll put those new poles on Mannheim as well through there, which has been under a massive overhaul for the better part of 2 years

[SSOWorld]

Actually, Illinois is changing the sodium lights to the LEDs when they finish a stretch of construction. I-190 is now almost all LED between the terminals and Mannheim Rd.

That stretch of I-190 is maintained by the CDOT (City of Chicago), and not IDOT. It looks like they replaced the light poles and everything with a more modern standard. Bessie Coleman Drive in that area is also seeing the lighting replaced. CDOT is starting to use LED lighting (see Lake Shore Drive) along with the tollway. Now if IDOT would start using it as well...

I wonder if they'll put those new poles on Mannheim as well through there, which has been under a massive overhaul for the better part of 2 years

That's one IDOT Summer.

[johndoe780]

Actually, Illinois is changing the sodium lights to the LEDs when they finish a stretch of construction. I-190 is now almost all LED between the terminals and Mannheim Rd.

That stretch of I-190 is maintained by the CDOT (City of Chicago), and not IDOT. It looks like they replaced the light poles and everything with a more modern standard. Bessie Coleman Drive in that area is also seeing the lighting replaced. CDOT is starting to use LED lighting (see Lake Shore Drive) along with the tollway. Now if IDOT would start using it as well...

I wonder if they'll put those new poles on Mannheim as well through there, which has been under a massive overhaul for the better part of 2 years

That's one IDOT Summer.

To be fair, the scope of this project was pretty big, especially the Balmoral underpass.

[Lyon Wonder]

According to this article, which is being discussed in the General Highway Talk forum, there's a proposal by the federal government to reduce I-180 to 2 lanes, which would make it a super-2.

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:udt0D7cabQEJ:newstrib.com/main.asp%3FSectionID%3D2%26SubSectionID%3D232%26ArticleID%3D45768+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

I won't be surprised that I-180 gets downgraded at some point.

[Rick Powell]

I won't be surprised that I-180 gets downgraded at some point.

The N-S portion of I-180 is critical to extend the proposed IL-29 4-laning to I-80 (when/if it ever happens, but there IS an approved EIS for it).  If for no other reason, the locals will resist any effort to downgrade 180.  They are getting a few congresspeople involved in looking into "whose" idea this is...no one seems to be taking credit for it at this point.

[Stratuscaster]

Last thing I read was that there's no formal discussion and any action at all is 10-20 years out.