Interstate 355 (I-355), also known as the Veterans Memorial Tollway, is an Interstate Highway and tollway in the western and southwest suburbs of Chicago in the U.S. state of Illinois. Like most other toll roads in the northeastern portion of the state, I-355 is maintained by the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority (ISTHA). I-355 runs from I-80 in New Lenox north to I-290 in Itasca, a distance of . With the exception of a expansion in 2009, from U.S. Route 34 (US 34, Ogden Avenue) to 75th Street, the highway is six lanes wide for its entire length.
The tollway authority opened I-355 as the North–South Tollway in 1989 to ease congestion on Illinois Route 53 (IL 53), a parallel two-lane state highway in central DuPage County. Initially, I-355 ran from I-55 north to I-290. The new highway helped cut travel times for commuters traveling north and south in the county. According to commercial real estate developers at the time, the new tollway also opened the western suburbs of Chicago to commercial and industrial development.
On November 11, 2007, the tollway authority opened a southern extension of I-355, which runs between I-55 and I-80. The extension was routed through Will County and a small portion of Cook County, which together formed one of Illinois' fastest-growing regions at the time. The tollway authority expected the extension to cut travel times in the region by 20 percent. Upon the extension's opening, the tollway authority changed the name of the tollway to "Veterans Memorial Tollway".
History
Early history From 1963 to 1970, the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) planned and built a new expressway north from Army Trail Road through Schaumburg to the Northwest Tollway (now the Jane Addams Memorial Tollway). After its completion, IDOT rerouted IL 53 onto this new expressway from Rohlwing Road.
The original alignment of I-355 was defined in the Chicago Area Transportation Study (abbreviated CATS) Transportation Plan of April 1962. The plan called for a supplemental system of limited-access expressways to be built in the Chicago metropolitan area by 1980, and defined corridors where the expressways were to be located. Most of these corridors, including the Des Plaines River expressway, the Crosstown Expressway running north–south along the west side of Chicago, and most of a proposed northern extension of IL 53 were scrapped because of intense local opposition.
Initially, state and county officials anticipated building a freeway for the expressway south of Army Trail Road, similar to the existing freeway north of Army Trail Road. In 1979, Chicago mayor Jane Byrne canceled plans for the proposed Crosstown Expressway. Following the move, Congress gave the rights to half of the $200 million (equivalent to $ in ) that had been earmarked for the Crosstown Expressway to DuPage County. However, county officials found this amount insufficient for construction of the new freeway. The officials then handed authority for the project over to the tollway authority, and spent the money on other projects in the county.
In June 1984, Republican minority leader of the Illinois House of Representatives James "Pate" Philip helped push through legislation authorizing the construction of the tollway, then referred to as simply the DuPage Tollway. Officials at the Morton Arboretum, one of the nation's premier woodland research centers, promptly filed a federal lawsuit to block construction of the tollway. They also promised to prevent the tollway authority from obtaining environmental approval from federal officials.
In April 1985, the two agencies came to an agreement regarding construction of the new tollway. To protect the arboretum from salt spray and other pollutants caused by cars on the tollway, the tollway authority agreed to build I-355 below grade around the perimeter of the arboretum. The tollway authority would build a water collection system to divert runoff from the arboretum. In addition, they would build earthen berms along the new road, preventing salt spray from damaging arboretum plants. In exchange, the DuPage County Forest Preserve District agreed to a 99-year lease providing of its land to the arboretum for the development of an "urban vegetation laboratory". Under the agreement, Morton Arboretum agreed to charge DuPage County residents lower admissions one day of the week, build a bicycle path connecting the arboretum to nearby forest preserves, and begin a joint clean-streams program to improve the water quality of DuPage County's lakes and streams. In January 1986, the tollway paid out $2.5 million (equivalent to $ in ) to a trust fund as a part of the settlement to help finance the arboretum's new programs.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers released a preliminary environmental impact statement on March 13, 1986. At a public hearing a month later, arboretum executives and Woodridge officials strongly criticized the report as "fatally flawed" and a repeat of tollway-provided research, including typographical errors. The opposition also cited outdated and inaccurate data regarding wetlands replacement, salt dispersion, and the lack of compensation to residents for lowered property values. The tollway authority agreed to run the road below-grade at 75th Street instead of as a elevated highway. In addition, they agreed to spend an extra $1 million (equivalent to $ in ) on the redesigned elevation and interchange.
The Corps of Engineers issued a permit for the tollway on October 8, 1986, rejecting last-minute concerns from the Sierra Club to reroute the toll road around sections of Churchill Woods Prairie, between Glen Ellyn and Lombard. The permit allowed the first two earth moving contracts issued by the tollway authority to move forward. The tollway authority put the total cost of of new pavement at $450 million (equivalent to $ in ). Of the total cost, $325 million (equivalent to $ in ) was allocated for construction, $30 million (equivalent to $ in ) to alleviating environmental concerns, including moving and enlarging of wetlands, and $30 million (equivalent to $ in ) for utility relocation. Work in 1987 consisted primarily of excavation, embankment building and land acquisition.
Because of problems with pavement on other roads in the system and anticipation of heavy traffic on the new Interstate, the tollway authority decided to pave I-355 with pavement expected to last 20 years. Construction workers laid concrete on the tollway to a thickness of over an sub-base. The new pavement also incorporated fly ash and less cement, allowing the pavement to achieve maximum strength faster than pure concrete.
One of the last issues settled prior to the opening of the tollway was the highway's number. Originally, tollway officials designated the new road I-355. Early in 1988, however, the tollway administration received a letter from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) indicating that the highway should be designated as Interstate 455. FHWA policy at the time dictated that auxiliary Interstate routes that join two other Interstate Highways should start with an even number. IDOT argued the highway more closely resembles a spur from I-55. Ultimately, the tollway authority kept the I-355 designation.
Governor James R. Thompson and U.S. Secretary of Transportation Samuel K. Skinner dedicated the North–South Tollway on December 22, 1989. When it opened, officials estimated travel times from Schaumburg to Oak Brook would be reduced from 55 minutes to 34 minutes, and from Wheaton to Darien from 60 to 34 minutes. Tollway officials also estimated that 200,000 cars per day would use I-355. This figure has since been shown to be slightly optimistic, with maximum average daily traffic values approaching 170,200 only at the northern end of the Interstate. The initial length of I-355 was from I-55 north to I-290.
Opening
I-355 opened at the stroke of midnight on December 24, 1989. As a Christmas gift, the first two days of operation were free. Because of lower traffic counts at the north and south ends of the highway and lack of construction money, tollway officials built the road with four lanes from North Avenue (IL 64) to the Ronald Reagan Memorial Tollway (I-88) on the north end, and around I-55 on the south end. As early as 1991, tollway officials had drawn up plans to widen the highway to three lanes in each direction. Widening from North Avenue to Butterfield Road (IL 56) took place in 1995. 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.
After the new road opened, congestion decreased considerably on nearby north–south arteries. The DuPage County Division of Transportation calculated that congestion had decreased on IL 53 by 20%, and the volume of cars on nearby north–south roads IL 53, IL 59 and IL 83 had decreased. On IL 53 between Ogden Avenue and Roosevelt Road, traffic counts sank from 21,400 to 11,800 vehicles per day. In addition, traffic on the exit ramp from the Tri-State Tollway (I-294) to I-55 dropped 10 percent in 12 months. Drivers also reported decreases in travel time from one end of the county to the other of up to 40 minutes. However, the opening of the tollway also greatly increased congestion on I-290 near the northern terminus. A construction project in the summer months of 1990 widened I-290 just north of the tollway, at a cost of $2–2.5 million (equivalent to $– in ).
In spite of the apparent success of the tollway opening, traffic counts and projected toll revenues were initially lower than projected, with an estimated 65,000 motorists per day traveling along the tollway, generating $55,000–65,000 (equivalent to $– in ) in daily toll revenues. In addition, a spate of lawsuits were filed regarding the payment of contractors and subcontractors. Numerous liens filed by subcontractors against the tollway were settled in June, 1990 at a cost of $10.1 million (equivalent to $ in ). The tollway authority released an additional $1 million (equivalent to $ in ) in May 1992 to further settle claims made by the general contractor, entering arbitration soon afterwards to settle another $1.6–27 million (equivalent to $– in ) the contractor claimed it was owed. By 2005, average annual daily traffic values had risen to a range of 77,400 to 170,200 vehicles per day.
As early as 1989, the tollway authority had discussed implementing automatic toll collection across the entire system to relieve congestion caused by traffic stopping at mainline toll barriers. The tollway authority began testing I-Pass, the tollway system's electronic payment method, on the entire stretch of I-355 in 1993 at various tollbooths; by September 1994, every plaza on I-355 accepted I-Pass. By 1998, the tollway authority had installed dedicated I-Pass lanes (lanes specifically set aside for electronic toll collections) at both mainline toll barriers. In 1999, I-355 became the first tollway to receive I-Pass Express Lanes (also known as open road tolling, or ORT). With the installation of the express lanes, vehicles with I-Pass could be tolled at highway speeds of . In 2005, the tollway authority widened the express lanes from two lanes to three lanes in each direction. This allowed the number of express lanes to match the number of travel lanes on the tollway.
Unlike the other tollways in the tollway system at the time, there were no oases on the Veterans Memorial Tollway when it was opened. This is primarily due to the widespread access to food and fuel throughout the western suburbs when construction began in the late 1980s. Via an interview/response through the Daily Herald. When the southern extension was opened in Will County in 2007, that segment of road also did not have any oases.
Southern extension