Construction is progressing steadily on a cornerstone project of Illinois’ multi-year Rebuild Illinois capital program, which promises to position the region for long-term economic opportunity. Rebuild Illinois is the largest capital program in state history, designed to significantly upgrade the state’s aging transportation system.
The $1.3 billion Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) Interstate 80 (I-80) Reconstruction Project includes approximately 16 miles of the interstate. It begins at Ridge Road to the west, near Minooka, and ends at U.S. 30 to the east, in Joliet and New Lenox. The corridor passes through Kendall, Grundy, and Will counties, but most of the 16-mile project corridor and major construction work is in Will County.
While extensive roadway resurfacing is one part of the work underway, the project is a full corridor reconstruction that expands the roadway to three lanes in each direction and includes the upgrading of over 30 bridges. Bridges, interchanges, ramps, and the roadbed itself are being rebuilt in phases. In Joliet, key elements of the overall project — new, wider bridges over the Des Plaines River — are under construction, and the I-55/I-80 interchange is being completely redesigned with new flyover ramps.
To enhance local mobility options, bicycle and pedestrian connections are being added at interchanges and overhead crossings.
Advance work on the project began in the summer of 2021, with major corridor construction beginning in 2022. Substantial completion is anticipated by the end of 2028. Approximately 60 percent of the total 16-mile reconstruction from Ridge Road to U.S. 30 is now complete, with nearly 80 percent expected to finish by late 2026. Work on the new bridges over the Des Plaines River — which serve as the centerpiece of the final project phase — began in May 2026 and is expected to be completed in 2028, followed by demolition of the old bridges in 2029.
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Interstate 80 is an east-west transcontinental freeway that spans the United States from San Francisco, California, to Teaneck, New Jersey. One of the nation’s three coast-to-coast interstates and the second-longest interstate in the country, I-80 stretches for over 2,900 miles across 11 states, acting as a vital corridor for cross-country shipping, passenger travel, and regional transit.
Through Joliet and Will County, I-80 carries approximately 80,000 vehicles a day, about 25 percent of which are trucks. The interstate serves as the backbone of a booming freight and logistics economy, with 90,000 jobs tied to transportation and related industries in the region, according to the Will County Center for Economic Development. The value of freight passing through Will County is well over $600 billion annually. The demand for freight is projected to double in northeastern Illinois over the next 20 years.
The aging infrastructure along the Will County corridor, originally built in the 1960s, has experienced increasing capacity constraints, heavy congestion, frequent merging and weaving, and a growing number of outdated bridges. The reconstruction project is addressing these issues to make the route safer for both commuters and commercial drivers.
Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker has positioned the I-80 reconstruction as a flagship infrastructure project for the Rebuild Illinois capital program, passed in 2019, which encompasses all modes of transportation — roads and bridges, transit, waterways, freight and passenger rail, aviation, and bicycle and pedestrian accommodations. The initiative has invested over $25 billion into Illinois’ roads and bridges. In addition to infrastructure improvements, the capital program is enhancing economic opportunity as well as safety and quality of life throughout the state.
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“These improvements will not only make it safer for commercial drivers, but for the thousands of families who rely on I-80 to commute to work, drive their kids to school, and move safely through their daily lives,” Pritzker said at the start of construction on the project. “New pedestrian and bicyclist paths will help keep communities better connected, and new noise walls will help keep surrounding neighborhoods insulated from noisy traffic.”
Eric Ray, IDOT Project Engineer, provided details on the bridges affected by the project.
“The I-80 reconstruction and modernization project is replacing or rehabbing more than 30 bridges on the 16-mile-long corridor, including the twin Des Plaines River bridges,” he said. “Several bridges were built as part of the original interstate in the 1960s and are nearing the end of their serviceable lives. Also, replacing these bridges now provided IDOT the opportunity to add modern design features, including additional lanes, full-width shoulders, bicycle and pedestrian accommodation on the cross streets, better alignments, and longer merge areas for entering traffic.”
In addition to the bridges, multiple interchanges are being upgraded along the corridor.
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“Will County and the Joliet region have been one of the fastest growing areas in the state for several years,” said Jonathan Schumacher, IDOT Bureau Chief of Construction. “On top of the residential population, freight and rail centers have been growing exponentially, adding truck traffic and additional stress on the I-80 corridor. Several interchanges are being rebuilt to improve safety and mobility, providing longer merge and acceleration areas, and will better accommodate current and future traffic volumes along the corridor.
“The southbound Interstate 55 to I-80 loop ramp has been removed and replaced with a directional ramp for better traffic flow. Four exit ramps have been consolidated to two ramps at the Larkin Avenue [Illinois 7] interchange to provide longer merge areas on I-80 and better signal spacing on Larkin Avenue.
“The Center Street interchange is being reconfigured to simplify the existing complex interchange and improve access between Center Street and I-80. The new design consolidates the existing eight bridges into one new structure and will provide full access to and from I-80, including new connections from eastbound I-80 to southbound Center Street and from northbound Center Street to westbound I-80.
“The Chicago Street interchange is being reconfigured from a cloverleaf to a partial cloverleaf, including a new underpass that separates I-80-bound traffic from through traffic on Chicago Street. The new configuration is designed to improve safety and traffic flow through the interchange. Also, the Briggs Street interchange has been reconfigured by shifting the eastbound ramp terminals to the north to increase signal spacing on Briggs Street.”
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Replacement of the Des Plaines River bridges, itself a $164 million component of the reconstruction project, is the most complex phase of the corridor improvement. Like other bridges being overhauled as part of the project, these twin bridges date from the 1960s and have reached the end of their useful service lives. The new, wider concrete bridges are positioned approximately 300 feet north of the original alignment.
Going into the fourth quarter of 2026, the I-80 project is over 60 percent completed, with nearly 80 percent completion expected by the end of the year. Substantial completion, with all lanes open, is anticipated by November 2028. Among the project phases expected to be completed by the end of 2026 are the River Road to Wheeler Avenue reconstruction and the I-55/I-80 interchange.
According to Phil Gibson, IDOT Resident Engineer, several key milestones have already been achieved this year.
“The fully reconstructed Larkin Avenue interchange and the Richards Street interchange are finished,” he said. “Three miles of the 16-mile corridor now have three lanes open in each direction, with another 9 miles from Larkin Avenue to Ridge Road expected to open by the end of 2026. In July, the eastern 3-mile segment of the corridor was completed, allowing IDOT to open an additional third lane and full width shoulders between Richards Street and U.S. 30, including the Briggs Street interchange.”
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State officials broke ground on the new multi-lane Des Plaines River Bridge replacements, the overall project’s final phase, in May 2026. Moving into 2027, primary project work will be centered on the bridge replacements and the reconstruction of adjacent interchanges at Center Street and Chicago Street. This work is likely to include multiple lane shifts in 2028 as construction moves toward completion by the end of that year. The demolition of the existing Des Plaines River Bridges will continue into 2029.
“Current work on the bridges phase includes new embankments, which are nearing completion with settlement periods just starting,” Gibson said. “Foundations are being excavated with pier stems starting to come out of the ground. Work on the two piers in the Des Plaines River started in September.”
One of the biggest challenges is completing this extensive work while keeping I-80 open to traffic, according to Ray.
“With multiple construction contracts underway at the same time, the work must be carefully coordinated to ensure that traffic shifts, ramp closures and openings, and construction activities are staged in the right sequence, while minimizing disruptions to the public,” he said. “This requires ongoing coordination with multiple contractors, utilities, several municipalities, first responders, businesses, and various stakeholders.”
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Figures provided by IDOT offer a glimpse of the scale and scope of the extensive I-80 Reconstruction Project. It encompasses 16 miles of mainline interstate reconstruction, as well as the widening, rehabilitation, or replacement of more than 30 bridges and the rebuilding or improvement of six interchanges. The corridor covers three counties and passes through six municipalities.
The reconstructed interstate will be a 13-inch continuously reinforced concrete pavement supported by 4 inches of HMA-stabilized subbase and 12 inches of aggregate subgrade. Once complete, the corridor will have over 9 miles of noise abatement walls, a new enclosed drainage system and retention ponds to address flooding, full intelligent transportation system and CCTV cameras, new LED lighting, and extensive landscaping.
- Owner: Illinois Department of Transportation
- Construction Corridor Management: H.W. Lochner, Chicago, Illinois; Bowman Consulting Group, Chicago
- General Contractors: D. Construction, Coal City, Illinois; Walsh Construction Company, Chicago; Kraemer North America, Plain, Wisconsin; F.H. Paschen, Chicago; Dunnet Bay Construction Company, Glendale Heights, Illinois
- Designer: GFT Infrastructure, Chicago
- Engineer: Bowman Consulting Group, Chicago; Egis North America, Chicago
