Illinois Tollway OKs $106M for Tri-State rebuilding plans

CHICAGO — The Illinois Tollway has awarded $106 million in contracts to begin planning for a major rebuilding of the Tri-State Tollway near Chicago.

The Tollway plans to reconstruct 22 miles of the Tri-State over a two-year period beginning in 2020. The stretch is the Tollway’s heaviest-traveled section with the heaviest congestion.

The Chicago Tribune reports (http://trib.in/1HMPphr) the latest cost estimate for the project is $1.7 billion, but that could go higher if lanes are added. The project is part of the $12 billion capital program that the Tollway launched with funding from a 2012 toll increase.

The agency says the highway, built in 1958, carries as many as 200,000 vehicles per day. The Tri-State generates 45 percent of the Tollway system’s $1 billion annual toll revenue.