By Susan DeMar Lafferty
As traffic rumbled along Interstate 80 in the background, Gov. Bruce Rauner joined local officials to ceremoniously break ground on a $47 million interchange improvement project at U.S. 30 Wednesday morning in New Lenox.
Crews will begin clearing the way next week, and construction will begin in earnest next spring to expand I-80 to three lanes from two in each direction from Interstate 355 through the U.S. 30 interchange, with new ramp alignments, officials said.
“I-80 is one of the busiest, interstates anywhere in America. It’s the lifeblood of the economy in Illinois. It is the core of our quality of life. We need to make sure that I- 80 is expanded, that it’s safe, and that it’s highly and productive. This step today …. is a key step in that direction,” Rauner said.
The governor was joined by Illinois Department of Transportation Secretary Randy Blankenhorn, state Reps. Jim Durkin, R-Western Springs, and Margo McDermed, R-Mokena, New Lenox Mayor Tim Baldermann, John Greuling, president and CEO of the Will County Center for Economic Development, and a handful of Will County board members at IDOT’s yard in New Lenox, adjacent to the interstate.
The project is the result of a team effort, many said, involving federal, state, county and local officials. The federal government provided a $34.3 million grant for it, with the state covering the balance.
Helping to secure the grant funding, was Will County’s Community Friendly Freight Study, which confirmed that I-80 is “truly a road of regional and national significance,” where 3.5 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product passes through every year, Greuling said.
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