By Marney Simon | Enterprise Staff
It’s been a long-standing topic of discussion for anyone who has ever been frustrated on the interstate.
For more than a decade, the process has been slowly unfolding to build a new interchange along I-55, to provide better connectibility to Plainfield, Bolingbrook, and Romeoville. A move by the village board this month hopes to further that plan.
The project began when Bolingbrook completed an access justification study for the expansion of the I-55/Route 126 interchange, and Romeoville completed an access justification study for a new interchange at I-55 and Lockport Street.
The Federal Highway Administration determined that both locations had to be included if a phase one engineering study/report was conducted in the future.
In 2009, Bolingbrook and Romeoville entered an intergovernmental agreement to advance the phase one study. The total cost of the project at that time was estimated at around $2.6 million, with a federal grant of $1.469 million allocated to assist with related costs.
But Plainfield wanted in on the project.
“Plainfield was concerned 15 years ago about this project because of the impact of local traffic within our community,” said Allen Persons, Director of Public Works. “In 2003, the village passed a resolution expressing concerns about traffic on Lockport Street, and that the only way the village would approve that interchange would be if there was some bypass included as well. So, that’s what started the conversation.”
In July of 2011, Plainfield entered an intergovernmental agreement with Bolingbrook and Romeoville, where the village agreed to fund 37 percent of the cost of the interstate interchange project as the local share. In return, Plainfield became actively involved in the decision-making process regarding the design of the proposed improvements at both locations.
“At that time, there was an amendment to the intergovernmental agreement that was created, where there was a cost-sharing system set up, where Plainfield could share with the additional costs, and we could all utilize and benefit from the grant that was going to be provided by the federal government,” Persons said.
On May 15, the board approved another intergovernmental agreement based on changes to the project.
Because an extensive amount of environmental studies and reports have been completed over the last seven years, additional funding is required to complete the phase one engineering study.
The updated total cost is estimated at approximately $3.26 million. The new agreement requires all three municipalities to provide additional funding to complete the phase one study report.
The additional contribution that is estimated to be paid by Plainfield is $212,995. This includes a 5 percent contingency that may not be required.
“This gives us a seat at the table in decisions as far as design is concerned at both of the locations, and I believe it helps protect our residents from a future improvement that could be detrimental as far as traffic is concerned,” Persons said.
The engineering firm in charge of phase one, V3 Engineering of Woodridge, is expected to make a presentation on phase one of the project at a future date.
Because the project is wholly dependent on the federal government, there is no official timeline to see ground broken for the interchange project. Persons said as a long-term project, the timeline is expected to be ten years or more.