Joliet Council Votes to Move Ahead with I-80 Bridge Project
Joliet, IL—At a Joliet City Council meeting on Tuesday, September 20, 2016, the council voted to move along with plans for the construction of a bridge, along the I-80 Houbolt Road interchange and across the Des Plaines River.
The bridge, estimated to cost around $175 million, is a mutual agreement between the City of Joliet, the State of Illinois, Will County, and CenterPoint Properties, the country’s largest inland port, according to a Will County press release.
Called a memorandum of understanding (MOU), the purpose of the agreement, is to alleviate truck congestion to and from CenterPoint Intermodal facilities in Joliet and Elwood, Illinois. At a September 19, pre-city council meeting, City Manager Hock briefed the councilmembers on the memorandum.
Beginning at the I-80 intersection of Route 6 and Houbolt Road, the bridge will go over the Des Plaines River through W. Schweitzer Road in Elwood, Illinois.
Construction on Route 6, will continue north, where a new diverging diamond interchange—a freeway interchange where the non-freeway traffic is redirected to cross on opposite sides at the freeway on-ramp— will be built at Houbolt and I-80.
In order to accommodate the extra traffic moving south, an extension will be made to Houbolt Road, between Route 6 and Schweitzer over the Des Plaines River, allowing for a four-lane toll bridge. Houbolt will also be widened to the north from I-80 to Route 6, allowing for a five-lane roadway.
CenterPoint Properties is responsible for payment of the Route 6 and Houbolt Bridge on I-80 at a cost of $180 million.
Currently, the City of Joliet will not have to pledge any money to the project as, according to City Manager Hock at the September 19 meeting; the Illinois Department of Transportation has pledged $21 million to the city.
The $21 million will be used towards construction of the diverging diamond interchange and the widening of Houbolt Road.
However, City Manager Hock did say that if the project exceeded $21 million the City of Joliet would have to cover the remaining costs.
“It could run over, it may run over, but we also made it clear to CenterPoint if that happens we expect to receive part of the toll to be compensated,” said Joliet Mayor Bob O’Dekirk, in response to Councilman Pat Mudron, who stated concern that CenterPoint would not provide the money for the project in a timely fashion.
It was also during the September 19 meeting, that representative from the Mid-West Truckers Association, Matt Wells, voiced his concerns.
Under the current verbiage of the memorandum, CenterPoint may claim rights to all existing roads and road infrastructures, turned over to IDOT, by the City of Joliet that would be considered a secondary-access point to their facilities.
Wells raised his concern that should future infrastructure projects be turned over to CenterPoint; CenterPoint would have the authority to raise toll prices or implement restrictions for the trucks moving cargo to and from the intermodal yard, in order to pay for the improvements.
Addressing the council Wells said: “The MOU as we know is not a binding agreement but as we move forward, it lays the groundwork and we want to make sure that all parties concerns are being met.”
Despite this concern, on September 20 the council decided to move forward with the vote and passed the initial memorandum, 7-0.
A more detailed agreement between all parties is set for a vote in October.
