Resolution Passed Thursday Clears Elgin-O'Hare Western Access Project for Construction

On Thursday, the Illinois Tollway received the authority needed to begin construction of western access to O'Hare International Airport. The Illinois Senate unanimously approved a resolution sponsored by Sen. Tom Cullerton (D-Villa Park) that gets the long-awaited project off the ground. The Illinois House passed the joint resolution May 1.

This projects dates back to the early 1990s and has support from local municipalities and the DuPage County Board. Elmhurst resident and DuPage County Board Chairman Dan Cronin has been a leader in pushing for the western access as leader of the Elgin-O'Hare West Bypass Committee.

Currently there isn’t an easy, direct route for people traveling to O’Hare from northwestern suburbs. The new road will connect Interstate 90 in the north to I-294 in the south, and the Elgin-O’Hare Expressway will finally live up to its name (almost) and connect Hanover Park to O’Hare Airport via the widening of Thorndale Avenue, which will become a tollway.

Cullerton said Thursday the tollway aspect is pivotal if the project is ever to become reality.

“If we waited for the state, western access would never happen, and the Elgin O’Hare Expressway would forever continue to never go to either Elgin or O’Hare,” Cullerton said in a prepared statement.

According to the Illinois Toll Highway Authority, this project, combined with the surrounding development and other infrastructure projects, stands to create as many as 65,000 direct and indirect jobs by 2040. 

“With all the vacant small businesses in the western suburbs, this opens up warehouses for freight capacity, allows manufacturers to get their goods to market faster and will help these small business grow,” Cullerton said.

The resolution allows construction to begin this year and stay on budget, Cullerton said. The approval of this resolution can save the project up to $100 million in construction costs, which would have been incurred if construction was delayed to 2014, he said. The Tollway will use toll revenue to fund the majority of the project’s costs.  

In August 2011, Illinois Tollway Board members funded by a toll hike. I-PASS drivers' tolls increased 35 cents, and cash-paying toll users saw a 70-cent increase. The western access portion of the Tollway's plan will cost about $95.6 million in 2013.

In November 2011, Gov. Pat Quinn named Elmhurst resident Jeff Redick and four other new directors to the Tollway Board, which will oversee the project. Quinn secured approval for the project from the U.S. Department of Transportation in January.

Quinn said the project will provide congestion relief that is projected to save drivers $145 million a year in time and fuel costs and could create as many as 65,000 direct and indirect jobs by 2040.

"This project will help us boost long-term economic development potential in northeastern Illinois and provide good-paying construction jobs for more than a decade,” Quinn said in a prepared statement released Thursday afternoon. “Today, I applaud all members of the General Assembly who supported this important resolution and look forward to breaking ground on this historic project later this year.”

The resolution had bipartisan support, from local legislators Sen. Christine Radogno (R-Lemont), Sen. Kirk Dillard (R-Hinsdale), Rep. Dennis Reboletti (R-Addison), as well as Democratic legislators from Chicago, Elgin, Blue Island, Des Plaines and Westchester.

Drivers will not pay tolls on the new road until the current work to widen existing portions of the roadway and erect sound barriers is complete, sometime in 2015.

For more information about the Elgin-O’Hare Western Access project, click here.

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