IDOT warns motorists to stay away from I-255 during ‘switch over’ Saturday
Illinois Department of Transportation officials are urging drivers to avoid a portion of Interstate I-255 Saturday when the second phase of the roadway’s restoration project is scheduled to take begin.
IDOT District 8 Construction Engineer Joel Cumby said travelers should avoid the I-255 corridor Saturday because there may be portions of the day when the entire seven-mile stretch will be closed to traffic.
Work on the highway from I-55 at Exit 25 in Collinsville to Exit 20 at I-64 west of Fairview Heights have been completed. IDOT next moves on to a three-mile portion of the project that will close I-255 from the I-64 ramps to Illinois 15.
Cumby said the “switch over” to the southern portion of the project will be an “hour-by-hour operation” that may cause additional closures. Those closures will be Tweeted in real-time by the IDOT District 8 social media accounts.
“Again, avoid this corridor at all costs. We are going to have numerous crews out trying to move all these devices around, trying to get things set up,” Cumby said. “If we can just move traffic away from it it will be safer for the workers, safer for motorists and safer for everyone involved.”
Digital mapping companies like Google and Waze will show the entire stretch of the project closed on Saturday, in an effort to divert traffic away from the switch over operation, Cumby added. He encouraged drivers to use alternate routes.
The project is on target to be completed by November of this year and is still on target budget-wise, Cumby said. It includes resurfacing with asphalt, significant bridge repairs, safety improvements and drainage upgrades.
Cumby said the COVID-19 pandemic gave construction a head start on some portions of the second phase of the project. Due to low traffic numbers, he said, crews were able to resurface portions on the south end of the project.
Funding for the project comes from Illinois’ bi-partisan Rebuild Illinois capital plan aimed to repair large swaths of infrastructure in the state. Acting Illinois Transportation Secretary Omer Osman said the pandemic could have an effect on some Rebuild Illinois projects due to the drop in gas tax collection with fewer people traveling.
The funding for the program comes from the state’s gambling expansion, increased fees at the driver’s services office, doubling of the gas tax and a higher tax on tobacco.
Osman said no projects will be canceled from a shortage of funds, but perhaps delayed. IDOTs 2021 fiscal year plan is due out in the coming months.
Rebuild Illinois’ spending includes:
$33.2 billion for transportation projects.
$4.3 billion for state facilities including deferred maintenance, among other things.
$3.5 billion for education projects.
$1.9 billion for economic and community development.
$1.2 billion for environment and conservation projects.
$465 million for health care and human services.
$420 million for broadband deployment.