Illinois notes

[abefroman329]

And I fail to see the point of renting a vehicle at O'Hare when there are many, many rental offices throughout the city and suburbs.

It's.  Cheaper.

You failed to read the rest of my comment:

For some of us, renting a vehicle from O'Hare would involve a lot of money spent for Uber or a taxi, or a lot of public transit transfers, then additional tolls and gasoline usage afterward.  Any supposed savings just isn't worth it.

Comprende?

Fine.  It's.  Cheaper.  For.  Me.

[inkyatari]

So...  Any new illinois road news not about O'Hare car rentals?

No.  All road projects have been put on hold till we all sort this crap out.

[captkirk_4]

And I fail to see the point of renting a vehicle at O'Hare when there are many, many rental offices throughout the city and suburbs.  For some of us, renting a vehicle from O'Hare would involve a lot of money spent for Uber or a taxi, or a lot of public transit transfers, then additional tolls and gasoline usage afterward.  Any supposed savings just isn't worth it.

Yes there are lots of car rental places scattered about as there is also quite the business of catering to insurance company loaners while auto accidents get repaired.

[Rick Powell]

Just for fun I did a search at rentalcars.com for cheapest "standard" car
Nissan Altima $29/day Chicago Heights IL (south suburbs)
Mitsubishi Galant $32/day Midway Airport
Chrysler 200 $26/day Naperville IL (western suburbs)
Nissan Altima $25/day Waukegan IL (north suburbs)
Chrysler 200 $24/day OHare

I dunno, there seem to be some deals at OHare, but if time is money, a few bucks to rent closer to home seems to be worth it, not seeing a huge price differential here.

[johndoe780]

Just for fun I did a search at rentalcars.com for cheapest "standard" car
Nissan Altima $29/day Chicago Heights IL (south suburbs)
Mitsubishi Galant $32/day Midway Airport
Chrysler 200 $26/day Naperville IL (western suburbs)
Nissan Altima $25/day Waukegan IL (north suburbs)
Chrysler 200 $24/day OHare

I dunno, there seem to be some deals at OHare, but if time is money, a few bucks to rent closer to home seems to be worth it, not seeing a huge price differential here.

Also the customary BS airport taxes you have to factor in as well

[Brandon]

One man's quest – change Dan Ryan signs from '22nd Street' to 'Cermak Road'

Steven Bahnsen is a man with a passion – for road sign accuracy.

A retired Chicago postal worker, Bahnsen has spent years complaining about missing, inaccurate, poorly placed and misleading signs along Illinois roads.

He has written so many letters to government agencies that one exasperated Illinois Department of Transportation manager told staffers that they did not have to respond to him, according to a 2013 email Bahnsen obtained through a public records request.

Not all of Bahnsen's concerns are of equal interest – it is hard to get excited, for example, about his call for new signs on Illinois Route 49 that point the way to Arcola via Illinois Route 133.

IDOT and wrong signage, be still my heart - it's all too common.  Hell, they can't even eliminate the A-B exits that they've converted to single exits on their map.

However, one complaint poses a real head-scratcher. Why do IDOT exit signs on the northbound Dan Ryan Expressway name 22nd Street instead of Cermak Road?

As Bahnsen notes, 22nd Street was changed to "Cermak Road"  by the Chicago City Council in 1933, following the assassination of Mayor Anton Cermak. The shooter had been aiming at President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The road is "Cermak"  from 400 East to 4600 West, said Mike Claffey, spokesman for the Chicago Department of Transportation.

[johndoe780]

So what's the progress of IDOT transitioning to LED lights? Are they doing it? Are they not?

[SSOWorld]

So what's the progress of IDOT transitioning to LED lights? Are they doing it? Are they not?

do they need to?

[johndoe780]

So what's the progress of IDOT transitioning to LED lights? Are they doing it? Are they not?

do they need to?

Lasts about 15 years according to cdot and use half as much energy. And I prefer the cool white temperature. Yeah I don't see why not.

[ET21]

So what's the progress of IDOT transitioning to LED lights? Are they doing it? Are they not?

do they need to?

Lasts about 15 years according to cdot and use half as much energy. And I prefer the cool white temperature. Yeah I don't see why not.

They look nice on I-90 and the sections of 294, so yes probably should

[Brandon]

So what's the progress of IDOT transitioning to LED lights? Are they doing it? Are they not?

No idea, but I've seen a few IDOT maintained roads with them (IL-7 and IL-59 through Joliet), but I strongly suspect that these were installed by the municipality.

[johndoe780]

So what's the progress of IDOT transitioning to LED lights? Are they doing it? Are they not?

No idea, but I've seen a few IDOT maintained roads with them (IL-7 and IL-59 through Joliet), but I strongly suspect that these were installed by the municipality.

Haven't been on IL 59 through Joliet in a while but they dropped the ball not installing LED lights on the 6 laning IL 59 through Naperville/Aurora

[Brandon]

So what's the progress of IDOT transitioning to LED lights? Are they doing it? Are they not?

No idea, but I've seen a few IDOT maintained roads with them (IL-7 and IL-59 through Joliet), but I strongly suspect that these were installed by the municipality.

Haven't been on IL 59 through Joliet in a while but they dropped the ball not installing LED lights on the 6 laning IL 59 through Naperville/Aurora

That's been par for the course for IDOT.  Behind the curve and behind the 8-ball.

[abefroman329]

Wasn't that wide grassy median put there as a routing for a potential future CTA Red Line extension?

Mike

You may be thinking of I-57, in which case, yes, it was.

Yea, half-awake brainfart.

:-p

Mike

And it looks like it finally will be used for a Red Line extension:

http://wgntv.com/2018/01/26/cta-to-unveil-proposed-red-line-extension-to-130th-street/

[paulthemapguy]

So what's the progress of IDOT transitioning to LED lights? Are they doing it? Are they not?

From my understanding, IDOT will have a separate contract for retrofitting traffic signals.  By "separate" I mean, it's a program entirely separate from any construction contracts.  So if a construction project takes place on a state road, they will probably leave the signal alone, neglecting to improve the signal sections to LED's.  Of course, if the whole point of a project is to build a new signal, the new installs will have LED's.  I'd say 80% or more of the signals on IDOT's system use LED's now.

[mgk920]

Wasn't that wide grassy median put there as a routing for a potential future CTA Red Line extension?

Mike

You may be thinking of I-57, in which case, yes, it was.

Yea, half-awake brainfart.

:-p

Mike

And it looks like it finally will be used for a Red Line extension:

http://wgntv.com/2018/01/26/cta-to-unveil-proposed-red-line-extension-to-130th-street/

Only a little bit of it, this routing then heads due southward and then southeastward towards I-94/130th St.  I have known about discussions of such a proposal for several years now.

Mike

[Revive 755]

So what's the progress of IDOT transitioning to LED lights? Are they doing it? Are they not?

Maybe?  http://www.idot.illinois.gov/Assets/uploads/files/Doing-Business/Memorandums-&-Letters/Highways/Design-&-Environment/BDE-Memos/Inactive/PM%2018-01%20BDE%20Manual%20Revision%20-%20Chapter%2056.pdf.

[ILRoad55]

One man's quest – change Dan Ryan signs from '22nd Street' to 'Cermak Road'

However, one complaint poses a real head-scratcher. Why do IDOT exit signs on the northbound Dan Ryan Expressway name 22nd Street instead of Cermak Road?

As Bahnsen notes, 22nd Street was changed to "Cermak Road"  by the Chicago City Council in 1933, following the assassination of Mayor Anton Cermak. The shooter had been aiming at President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The road is "Cermak"  from 400 East to 4600 West, said Mike Claffey, spokesman for the Chicago Department of Transportation.

The Tollway signage at least has 'Cermak Road (22nd Street)', but it bothers me how at the I-88 Exit, they consider that section Cermak when most assume the Cermak Road name is only within Cook County.

Another thing to point out is that on I-55, the Route 83 exit signs name it Kingery Road rather than Kingery Highway.

[Rick Powell]

So what's the progress of IDOT transitioning to LED lights? Are they doing it? Are they not?

No idea, but I've seen a few IDOT maintained roads with them (IL-7 and IL-59 through Joliet), but I strongly suspect that these were installed by the municipality.

Haven't been on IL 59 through Joliet in a while but they dropped the ball not installing LED lights on the 6 laning IL 59 through Naperville/Aurora

That's been par for the course for IDOT.  Behind the curve and behind the 8-ball.

Probably 95% of the "highway lighting" on IDOT maintained roadways is municipally funded and maintained, even if IDOT's contractor put them up. So if the municipality is paying 100% of the construction cost, they will spec their preferred lighting as long as it meets overall lighting specs and standards. I don't know why a city wouldn't want to use LEDs because of their long life and low maintenance, but not everyone changes immediately with the times.

The main exceptions where IDOT pays for and maintains the lights are interstate interchanges and continuous freeway lighting, lighting over river crossings in rural areas, and a few other isolated lights in rural areas, mainly at intersections. The most recent IDOT project I worked on (that had new IDOT maintained lighting) used LEDs.

[inkyatari]

Dunno how I missed this, but the Rock Run shopping / lifestyle development planned for the NE corner of I-55 and I-80 has some.. plans for access...

http://www.theherald-news.com/2017/07/27/rock-run-crossings-plan-in-joliet-involves-interchange-roads-stores-and-more/ao53oze/

IDOT estimates the cost of the new infrastructure at $126 million...

[Brandon]

^^ Count me surprised if this development ever gets off the ground.

[inkyatari]

It's been in the planning for at least 10 years now. 

[ILRoad55]

oh no. I want to check out those abandoned houses before the get demolished if they haven't been already! They were supposed to be demolished for that project but then it didn't go through.

I've seen photos of them and everything was left behind inside them

[paulthemapguy]

Dunno how I missed this, but the Rock Run shopping / lifestyle development planned for the NE corner of I-55 and I-80 has some.. plans for access...

http://www.theherald-news.com/2017/07/27/rock-run-crossings-plan-in-joliet-involves-interchange-roads-stores-and-more/ao53oze/

IDOT estimates the cost of the new infrastructure at $126 million...

A large commercial development named after my favorite forest preserve that I bike through was, needless to say, concerning.  I had to laugh at the prospect of shaving off some money from the cost estimate because they think they can save money in the engineering department.  Hah.

IDOT never accomplishes anything in the outskirts of Region 1.  Will County is pretty much totally snubbed by them--same with the far N and NW suburbs.  No Illiana, no I-80 river bridge, no improved Plainfield access, no Houbolt-Laraway bridge, and this isn't going to happen either.  I'll believe it when I see it.

[Brandon]

It's been in the planning for at least 10 years now. 

I know, it's been an on-again/off-again thing.

oh no. I want to check out those abandoned houses before the get demolished if they haven't been already! They were supposed to be demolished for that project but then it didn't go through.

I've seen photos of them and everything was left behind inside them

There wasn't much left to the buildings on the property in June of 2015.  A Phase I Environmental Site Assessment was performed then, and the buildings were in an accelerated state of falling apart.  Needless to say, the assessor did not feel safe in entering most of the buildings at that time.

IDOT never accomplishes anything in the outskirts of Region 1.  Will County is pretty much totally snubbed by them--same with the far N and NW suburbs.  No Illiana, no I-80 river bridge, no improved Plainfield access, no Houbolt-Laraway bridge, and this isn't going to happen either.  I'll believe it when I see it.

Likewise.  I believe the Houbolt Road Bridge will come to fruition much faster as the City and the County are fronting a good portion of the cost.