I-355 extension opens

I took the 355 extension this morning and it was horrible! I got on at 7:15am at Boughton Road in Bolingbrook, and it was like a parking lot filled with an abundance of trucks and no one was moving. It was so bad that I had to exit at 75th street and wind my way through Woodridge and Downers Grove to go north. I personally think this extension is going to increase travel times, because trucks and other vehicles will see it as a new route to get to where they need to go. Bummer!

This former Illinois resident travels 70-miles round trip to work every day - FREE. Gas is cheaper, too, and there's very little traffic congestion. When will Illinois residents wake up and vote for politicians that will abolish the Tollway Authority? Fuel taxes are collected and wasted while people pay $$$ every day just to get back and forth to work. Goods cost more because shipping them through IL costs more due to outrageous truck tolls. Other states build roads without cheating their own residents - why can't Illinois?

It's going to take a little time for things to shake out, more than likely-I was on it between New Lenox and Bolingbrook about 5 AM, and it's fantastic!
But, it's unrealistic to expect no traffic between 7 and 9 AM, this is a very populated area.
Only wish they'd built this 20 years ago.

What are the new exits on the I-355 extension?
Romeoville - what exit should I use? Please direct me to an on-line map that shows the new exits.
Thanks!

Kristin wrote:

I took the 355 extension this morning and it was horrible! I got on at 7:15am at Boughton Road in Bolingbrook, and it was like a parking lot filled with an abundance of trucks and no one was moving. It was so bad that I had to exit at 75th street and wind my way through Woodridge and Downers Grove to go north. I personally think this extension is going to increase travel times, because trucks and other vehicles will see it as a new route to get to where they need to go. Bummer!

How did you get from Bolingbrook, IL at 7AM to Tulsa, OK at 8:45?

Kristin wrote:

I took the 355 extension this morning and it was horrible! I got on at 7:15am at Boughton Road in Bolingbrook, and it was like a parking lot filled with an abundance of trucks and no one was moving. It was so bad that I had to exit at 75th street and wind my way through Woodridge and Downers Grove to go north. I personally think this extension is going to increase travel times, because trucks and other vehicles will see it as a new route to get to where they need to go. Bummer!

Kristin, the I355 extension is south of I55. So it was not the extension that you took this morning.

Bubba Clyde wrote:

This former Illinois resident travels 70-miles round trip to work every day - FREE. Gas is cheaper, too, and there's very little traffic congestion. When will Illinois residents wake up and vote for politicians that will abolish the Tollway Authority? Fuel taxes are collected and wasted while people pay $$$ every day just to get back and forth to work. Goods cost more because shipping them through IL costs more due to outrageous truck tolls. Other states build roads without cheating their own residents - why can't Illinois?

What an ignorant and nearly incomprehensible statement. Your roads in Alabama are not "free", they've just hidden the costs to make suckers like you feel better about it. Sigh.

Kristin wrote:

I took the 355 extension this morning and it was horrible! I got on at 7:15am at Boughton Road in Bolingbrook, and it was like a parking lot filled with an abundance of trucks and no one was moving. It was so bad that I had to exit at 75th street and wind my way through Woodridge and Downers Grove to go north.

If you got on at Boughton and went north, you didn't take the extension. The extension goes south of Boughton/I-55 to I-80.

Tribune rehashes again. Instead of describing the opening ceremony or how traffic is flowing, or whether it opened on time, this is just old material about land use.

Oy Vey, what do you find "incomprehensible" about fuel taxes? You pay them at the pump, and then the government uses them to build the roads you drive on - except in Illinois, where they're siphoned off to pork-barrel projects and you are charged a toll to drive on the road you already paid for. Gullible voters like you are why the Tollway Authority wasn't put out of its sorry existence years ago. Sigh...

Took I-355 this morning from Tinley Park to Schaumburg. 50 minutes to Higgins Road. Usually takes 75-90 minutes. It did get a little congested around Bolingbrook to I-88 but otherwise, much better than the former route of LaGrange Road, I-294, I-88 to 355.

Funny to watch those home owners living by the tollway as if they didn't know this was coming for the last 20 years. "Oh my God! There's a tollway in my back yard!"

Those homes are only 6 years old. It was no secret that the tollway was coming when they bought those homes.

For years there have been signs by the farmland that surrounds these homes that says "Property of the Illinois Tollway Authority". That should have been their first clue.

Kristin wrote:

I took the 355 extension this morning and it was horrible! I got on at 7:15am at Boughton Road in Bolingbrook, and it was like a parking lot filled with an abundance of trucks and no one was moving. It was so bad that I had to exit at 75th street and wind my way through Woodridge and Downers Grove to go north. I personally think this extension is going to increase travel times, because trucks and other vehicles will see it as a new route to get to where they need to go. Bummer!

That wasn't the extension. Stupid.

I didn't use the new extension this morning, but all the additional traffic that it added made the commute terrible. Traffic was backed up at 7:15 all the way back to the Boughton toll plaza. It normally doesn't hit the brakes until 75tj Street. And today was a holiday. I'm dreading tomorrow's commute already. I think travel times will be worse for everyone, not better.

I got onto the extension about 6:05 this morning and it was clear sailing for me. I got onto the entrance ramp at rt 6 in New Lenox. Beware of the police cars on the side of the road too. Very easy to speed with not too many cars out there. Hopefully the drive home won't be too bad but it worked real well for me this morning. It did get busier once you get into the bolingbrook area but that's to be expected with i-55 cars merging in. But all in all, very glad it is here!!

Now it will only take another 25 years to extend it to I-57 in Peotone

This road could have been a freeway instead of a tollway. The reason funds were not available to build it as a freeway is too much of the highway trust fund/gas tax/license fees are used for other things. The CTA is a good example, but not the only one. Jesse White gives away money from license fees to fund library programs. That money would be better used to build roads, improve service to the public.at his offices, etc. Time to bring back the law that said highway tax money for highway construction and repair only.

Umm wrote:

<quoted text>
How did you get from Bolingbrook, IL at 7AM to Tulsa, OK at 8:45?

Read the message, they said they took it to WORK. If they work for a company like I do, the location stamp will indicate their corporate office location. I'm not in Portland!!

Bubba Clyde wrote:

Oy Vey, what do you find "incomprehensible" about fuel taxes? You pay them at the pump, and then the government uses them to build the roads you drive on - except in Illinois, where they're siphoned off to pork-barrel projects and you are charged a toll to drive on the road you already paid for. Gullible voters like you are why the Tollway Authority wasn't put out of its sorry existence years ago. Sigh...

Your completely wrong as NO NONE NOT A DIME of tax money goes to pay for the Illinois Tollway it is completely paid for by user fee's.

how many tolls in the new 12 miles?