Tollway Sustainability - April 5, 2021

 The Illinois Tollway stretches 294 miles (473 km) of tollways in 12 counties in Northern Illinois.  This highway system includes these tollways: 

• Jane Addams Memorial Tollway (I-39/I-90/US 51)
• Veterans Memorial Tollway (I-355)
• Ronald Reagan Memorial Tollway/Chicago–Kansas City Expressway (I-88/IL 56/IL 110)
• Tri-State Tollway (I-80/I-94/I-294)
• Elgin-O'Hare Tollway (IL 390)

These highways are VERY busy, carrying freight, travelers, commuters, deliveries, everything.  The Jane Addams Memorial Highway (I-90) had an average daily traffic count of more than 55,000 vehicles, 11,000 of which were trucks.  The roads are built for safety, speed and yes, sound environmental performance.  

Our speaker for the April 5 educational session will be Bryan Wagner, Environmental Policy Program Manager for the Illinois Department of Transportation, shown below on the right.   He's going to tell us about the measures that IDOT has taken to effectively manage storm water, mitigate construction impacts and more.  The session will start at 1pm on Zoom and will be recorded for later viewing.   

The program starts at 1pm Central, the Zoom  will open at 12:30 so stop by early to socialize a bit.  

Click here to join the Zoom

Congrats to Environmental Policy and Program Manager Bryan Wagner and our environmental team for receiving the 2019 Biosolids User Award from Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago at its Sustainability Summit. The Tollway is studying the effectiveness of biosolids as a soil enhancement in landscape projects. (photo from IDOT Facebook Page).

Here's an example of the types of measures that are being undertaken:
The Illinois Tollway’s Landscape Master Plan was developed with the goal of establishing and maintaining healthy tree communities throughout the Tollway’s 294-miles, 5 roadways and 12 counties.
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OBJECTIVES: In partnership with The Morton Arboretum and the Chicago Region Trees Initiative, this Master Plan will guide Tollway efforts to:

• Install 58,000 trees with the intent of increasing regional tree canopy coverage
• Develop experimental approaches to planting that could test new ideas for tree installation and care in stressful roadway conditions
• Develop maintenance programs to better ensure the long-term viability of future planting efforts
• Evaluate and develop a diverse list of plant species and material suitable for high speed roadways
• Identify viable living snow fence locations