{"id":35587,"date":"2026-05-29T17:34:16","date_gmt":"2026-05-30T00:34:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/illinois-starts-critical-164m-i-80-bridge-project\/"},"modified":"2026-05-29T17:34:16","modified_gmt":"2026-05-30T00:34:16","slug":"illinois-starts-critical-164m-i-80-bridge-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/illinois-starts-critical-164m-i-80-bridge-project\/","title":{"rendered":"Illinois starts critical $164M I-80 bridge project"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> [ad_1]<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"text-to-speech\">\n    <button class=\"text-to-speech__button button\"><br \/>\n        <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"text-to-speech__button__icon\" src=\"https:\/\/www.constructiondive.com\/static\/img\/play.svg?313321260226\" alt=\"-\"><br \/>\n        Listen to the article<\/p>\n<p>            <span class=\"text-to-speech__button__audio-length\">3 min<\/span><\/p>\n<p>    <\/button><\/p>\n<div class=\"text-to-speech__controls\">\n        <audio controls=\"\" class=\"js-text-to-speech\" preload=\"none\"><source src=\"https:\/\/text-to-speech.divecdn.com\/newspost\/821527\/2026-05-29_14.40.25\/illinois-i-80-bridge-des-plaines.wav\" type=\"audio\/mp3\"><\/source><\/audio><\/p>\n<div class=\"text-to-speech__controls__text\">\n            This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.constructiondive.com\/contact\/\" target=\"_blank\">feedback<\/a>.\n        <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>Earlier this month, a key portion of a massive overhaul of Interstate 80 in Illinois broke ground.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>State officials and a building team of Coal City, Illinois-based D Construction and Kansas City, Missouri-based HNTB began work on <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/gov-pritzker-newsroom.prezly.com\/gov-pritzker-announces-des-plaines-river-bridges-replacement-on-i-80\" target=\"_blank\"><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>new I-80 bridges over the Des Plaines River<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><span><span><span><span><span><span>, according to an announcement from Gov. JB Pritzker\u2019s office.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>The $164 million spans will replace structures originally built in the 1960s, according to the announcement. These new, concrete bridges will be located 300 feet to the north and will be wider than the previous spans. The new bridges are expected to be complete in 2028, with the old bridges scheduled for demolition in 2029.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>All told, the crossings are the centerpieces of a <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.i80will.org\/\" target=\"_blank\"><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>$1.3 billion effort to modernize and rehabilitate I-80<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><span><span><span><span><span><span> in Illinois, a critical thoroughfare that serves as one of the country&#8217;s three coast-to-coast highways. The highway begins in San Francisco and ends in New Jersey.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>The overall I-80 rehab in Illinois will see construction teams redesign and rebuild 16 miles of the highway, from Ridge Road in Minooka to U.S. 30 in Joliet and New Lenox, according to the announcement.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>\u201cThis milestone represents significant progress on one of the most important infrastructure investments in our region,\u201d said Terry D&#8217;Arcy, mayor of Joliet, Illinois, in the May 22 release. \u201cThe reconstruction of the Des Plaines River bridge and surrounding I-80 corridor will strengthen a critical transportation route that serves residents, businesses, and commerce throughout the country.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>The city of Joliet benefits mightily from I-80 traffic \u2014 the interstate carries approximately 80,000 vehicles a day, about 25% of which are trucks, through the city, according to the announcement. The value of freight passing through surrounding Will County is over $600 billion annually.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>In October, Illinois committed <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.constructiondive.com\/news\/illinois-infrastructure-plan-trump-cta-money\/802016\/\" target=\"_blank\"><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>approximately $50.6 billion to infrastructure<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><span><span><span><span><span><span> improvements across the state. Of that money, $32.5 billion is earmarked for roads and bridges, and $18.1 billion is set aside for transit, rail, aviation, ports and waterways.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>In particular, the city of Chicago has been busy on the infrastructure front. An AECOM Hunt Clayco Bowa joint venture and the Chicago Department of Aviation recently started vertical construction on O\u2019Hare International Airport\u2019s new, <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.constructiondive.com\/news\/chicago-airport-project-vertical-milestone-ohare\/818876\/\" target=\"_blank\"><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>$1.45 billion Concourse D project<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><span><span><span><span><span><span>.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>Contractors also <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.constructiondive.com\/news\/chicago-red-line-transit-extension-groundbreaking\/818707\/\" target=\"_blank\"><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>broke ground on the $5.7 billion Red Line Extension<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><span><span><span><span><span><span>, which will bring rapid rail transit to Chicago\u2019s Far South Side neighborhood.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>[ad_2]<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.constructiondive.com\/news\/illinois-i-80-bridge-des-plaines\/821527\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">This article was originally posted at Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[ad_1] Listen to the article 3 min This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback. Earlier &#8230; <a title=\"Illinois starts critical $164M I-80 bridge project\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/illinois-starts-critical-164m-i-80-bridge-project\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Illinois starts critical $164M I-80 bridge project\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[457],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35587","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-construction-dive","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-33"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35587","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35587"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35587\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35587"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35587"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}