Edens Expressway drivers aren’t just unhappy that a resurfacing project might tack up to an hour onto their usual slow-go commute beginning Monday.
Many regulars contend, in their self-proclaimed expert opinions, that the work is unnecessary on pavement almost as smooth as a baby’s bum.
“This is a boondoggle of a project,” said Alex Valvassori of Glencoe. “Take a drive down the Edens and tell me, please, that this road needs an overhaul.”
For the Monday-morning rush period, one lane will be closed in each direction in most of the work zone, between Lawrence Avenue in Chicago and Lake-Cook Road near Northbrook and Highland Park, according to the Illinois Department of Transportation.
The first phase of the project involves spot-patching the 15-mile road in preparation for resurfacing after winter.
Motorist Robert Smyth Jr. of Lake Forest said that “anyone who has been around these parts for a while has good reason to suspect ill motives.”
Such complaints were nowhere to be heard a few years ago, when the beaten-down Dan Ryan and Kingery Expressways went under the jackhammer.
But IDOT highway engineers say they are the victims of their own vigilance on the Edens, part of Interstate 94.
By staying ahead of problems and doing an almost $43 million resurfacing and bridge-repair job now, they say, they are preserving the concrete base of the road and pushing back a complete reconstruction by more than a decade.
Officials said rebuilding the Edens would cost at least $750 million.
While it is not easily visible to drivers, the 56-year-old expressway, which carries more than 170,000 vehicles each weekday, has deteriorated since it was reconstructed in the late ’70s, said Jacek Tyszkiewicz, IDOT project implementation engineer in the Chicago area.
“If drivers could get out of their cars and walk the pavement like our maintenance and design folks do, they would see cracks and depressions that would lead to bigger problems if left alone,” Tyszkiewicz said.
The purpose of the patching project, which began over the weekend and continues until early November, is to maintain the overall integrity of the concrete before the repairs are capped next year with 41/4 inches of asphalt. The maintenance strategy helps displace vehicle weights, especially from trucks weighing 80,000 pounds, reducing the beating on the base, officials said.
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Dealing with it
The speed limit on the Edens has been reduced to 45 m.p.h. in the work zone, and State Police in photo-enforcement vans will be on patrol.
Starting Monday morning, one lane will be closed during rush periods and daytime hours through about Nov. 4.
IDOT warns drivers to expect delays, and officials acknowledged there are not a lot of good choices as north-south alternative routes.
The Tri-State Tollway, which also is under construction, and Kennedy Expressway already suffer from congestion.
Instead, drivers might try U.S. Highways 41, 12 or 45, officials said.
Three Metra lines serve the corridor — the Union Pacific North Line, the North Central Service and the Milwaukee District North Line.
Pace, the suburban bus service, offers vanpools, ridesharing and several bus routes.
