Interstate 355

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Interstate 355 Auxiliary route of the Interstate Highway System
North-South Tollway
Length:	20.01 mi[1] (32.2 km)
Formed:	1989 (southern extension completion in 2007)
South end:	Interstate 55 in Bolingbrook, IL
Major junctions:	Interstate 88 in Downers Grove, IL
North end:	Interstate 290 in Itasca, IL
Illinois state highway system < ILL 351 ILL 394 >

Interstate 355 (abbreviated I-355), also known as the North-South Tollway, is a 20-mile (32 km) interstate highway and tollway located in the western suburbs of Chicago, USA (part of a metropolitan area sometimes known as Chicagoland). It runs from Interstate 55 in Bolingbrook north to Interstate 290 in Itasca. This is a distance of 20.01 miles (32.20 km).^[1]

Although the interstate is known for being a tollway, the tollway portion actually starts south of Army Trail Road, 2 miles (4 km) south of the northern terminus. Exits to U.S. Route 20 (Lake Street) and Army Trail Road from the north are free, and pre-existed on the freeway portion of old Illinois Route 53.

Contents 1 Route description 2 History 3 Future 4 Exit list 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Route description

I-355 is a spur route of Interstate 55, and I-55 serves as I-355's southern terminus, in extreme northern Will County. There are two toll plazas on the interstate. After the southern extension is completed in 2007, Interstate 355 will terminate at Interstate 80 in the Joliet area.

In Chicagoland traffic reports, Interstate 290 north of the tollway and Illinois 53 north of Interstate 90 are also considered to be part of the tollway, even though they are freeways. This is because it is easier to refer to the entire north-south length as a continuous route in traffic reports instead of separating the route into its three distinct parts.

[edit] History

Interstate 355 was commissioned in 1989 to ease pressure on nearby Illinois 53, and to a lesser extent, to ease pressure on the rapidly-growing Tri-State Tollway (Interstate 294). Illinois 53 was at that point the main north-south artery through central DuPage County. It frequently suffered from overcrowding, as it was two lanes (one northbound, one southbound) for most of its length. During construction, the highway had to be built around the ecologically sensitive and low-lying DuPage River valley, as well as the Morton Arboretum.

The road opened at the stroke of midnight on December 24, 1989. As a Christmas "gift," the first two days of operation were completely free. Initially, the road was a four lane highway from Illinois Route 64 (North Avenue) to Interstate 88 (Ronald Reagan Memorial Tollway) even though it was built wide enough to be six; within the first few years, the two-lane wide shoulders were converted to the third lane in each direction due to overcrowding. The old lines marking the former shoulder can still be seen in the right lane as a result of the Tollway Authority's attempt to grind them away.

Being one of the newer tollways in the system, the North-South Tollway has also seen considerable improvements earlier than the other tollways. Around the late 1990s, the North-South Tollway became the first tollway to have I-PASS installed; only a few years later, it become the first tollway (and second installation behind the lesser-used Edens Spur) to have I-PASS Express Lanes, a form of open road tolling (ORT).

The Tollway Authority's grander vision of ORT will also be instituted first on the North-South Tollway, when the express lanes are widened one lane to three lanes in each direction. This will allow the number of express lanes to match the number of travel lanes on the tollway, one of the goals of ORT.

In late 2005, construction began on the southern extension of I-355 from Bolingbrook to New Lenox. This portion will look similar to the southern portion of current I-355 south of Interstate 88. Prior to construction, local residents protested against the expressway because of reduction in their property values. In addition, some environmentalists protested because of the sensitivity of the Des Plaines River wetlands where construction would take place. Will County officials lobbied for the extension in an attempt to boost economic development in the Joliet-to-Woodridge corridor.

Plans for the southern extension were nearly brought to a halt in 1995 after discovery of the Hine's Emerald Dragonfly, an endangered species, near the river wetlands. The project was allowed to continue after construction crews were trained on how to work near the habitat. The crews also agreed to keep carcasses of any dragonfly kills. In addition, separate habitats for the dragonfly were developed near the Waterfall Glen Forest Preserve in Lemont and in two other preserves in Cook and Will counties.^[2]

As of 2007, there are no Illinois Tollway Oases on the North-South Tollway. This is primarily due to widespread access to food and fuel throughout the western suburbs when construction began in the mid 1980s.

[edit] Future

This article contains information about a planned or expected future road. It may contain information of a speculative nature and the content may change dramatically as the road's construction and/or completion approaches and more information becomes available.

The Illinois State Toll Highway Authority has plans to extend I-355 further south to Interstate 80 and perhaps to Interstate 57 and around to Interstate 65, relieving congestion on Interstate 80/94. Bidding on an excavation contract passed on November 18th of 2004 with construction beginning several days later, and barring any further legal delays the extension to Interstate 80 is to be completed by late 2007.

Six interchanges will be modified or created with the southern extension, located at:

• Interstate 55
• 127th Street
• 143rd Street and Illinois Route 171 (Archer Avenue)
• 159th Street (Illinois Route 7)
• U.S. Route 6 (Southwest Highway)
• Interstate 80

The extension will be 12.5 miles (20 km) long, and feature a 1.5 mile (2 km) long bridge over the Des Plaines River, the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, the Illinois and Michigan Canal, Bluff Road, numerous railroads, and the Commonwealth Edison utility corridor.

[edit] Exit list

Exits on the North-South Tollway are not numbered.

County	Location	Mile	Destinations	Notes
Will	Interstate 355 from mile 0.0 to mile 13.0 is under construction and will not be open until late 2007.
	New Lenox	0.0	Interstate 80 - Joliet, Toledo, Ohio	Future southern terminus of Interstate 355.
		~1.0	U.S. Route 6	Tolls on southbound entrance, northbound exit ramps.
	Lockport	~3.0	173rd Street Toll Plaza
		~5.5	Illinois Route 7 - 159th Street	Tolls on southbound exit, northbound entrance ramps.
	Homer Glen	~7.0	Illinois Route 171 - 143rd Street	Tolls on southbound exit, northbound entrance ramps.
	Lemont	~12.0	127th Street	Tolls on southbound exit, northbound entrance ramps.
	Bolingbrook	12.5	Interstate 55 - St. Louis, Missouri, Chicago	Current southern terminus of Interstate 355. Flyover ramps currently being built for southern expansion.
		13.0	Boughton Road Toll Barrier - Plaza #89
		13.5	Boughton Road	Full interchange; tolls on southbound entrance, northbound exit ramps.
DuPage	Woodridge	15.5	75th Street - Darien	Full interchange; tolls on southbound exit, northbound entrance ramps.
		17.0	63rd Street - Downers Grove	Full interchange; tolls on southbound exit, northbound entrance ramps.
	Lisle, Downers Grove	18.5	Maple Avenue	Full interchange; tolls on southbound exit, northbound entrance ramps.
		19.5	U.S. Route 34 - Ogden Avenue
	Downers Grove	19.5 NB, 23.0 SB	Interstate 88 - Aurora, Chicago	Full interchange. Interstate 88 and Interstate 355 run side-by-side for over two miles at this point.
		23.0	Illinois Route 56 - Butterfield Road	Interchange is part of Interstate 88 collector-distributor ramp southbound, and part of eastbound Interstate 88 entrance ramp northbound. Tolls on southbound entrance, northbound exit ramps.
	Glen Ellyn, Lombard	25.0	Illinois Route 38 - Roosevelt Road	Full interchange. Tolls on southbound entrance, northbound exit ramps.
	Glendale Heights	28.0	Illinois Route 64 - North Avenue	Full interchange. Tolls on southbound entrance, northbound exit ramps.
		28.25	Army Trail Road Toll Barrier - Plaza #73
	Bloomingdale, Addison	29.0	Army Trail Road	No access from northbound I-PASS express lanes.
		30.5	U.S. Route 20 - Lake Street	Partial collector-distributor interchange.
	Addison	31.5	Interstate 290 - Rockford, Chicago	Northern terminus of Interstate 355.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Illinois Tollway Highway Authority
• Interstate Guide to I-355
• Kurumi's x55 page
• Illinois Highway Ends: Interstate 355

	edit Auxiliary routes of Interstate 55
	Current and Future (F)	Former
	Illinois - Missouri-Tennessee
	Illinois-Missouri
	Illinois
	Arkansas (F)

edit Toll highways in Illinois
Illinois State Toll Highway Authority
Highways
Northwest Tollway (I-39/I-90) | Tri-State Tollway (I-80/I-94/I-294) Ronald Reagan Memorial Tollway (I-88) | North-South Tollway (I-355)
Miscellaneous
I-Pass | Illinois Tollway oasis

edit Expressways in Chicagoland
	Stevenson Expressway		Interstate 57		Interstate 65
	Kingery Expressway | Borman Expressway		Tri-State Tollway		Ronald Reagan Memorial Tollway
	Northwest Tollway | Chicago Skyway | Indiana Toll Road		Dan Ryan Expressway		Interstate 190 | Kennedy Expressway
	Edens Spur | Edens Expressway | Bishop Ford Freeway		Eisenhower Expressway		North-South Tollway
	Elgin Bypass		Lake Shore Drive | Skokie Highway		Illinois Route 53
	Kingery Highway		Amstutz Expressway		Illinois Route 394
	Elgin-O'Hare Expressway		Cline Avenue
Former / Future Expressways
	Crosstown Expressway		Illiana Expressway		Prairie Parkway