Tollway Sustainability - April 5, 2021

Many thanks to Bryan Wagner, Environmental Program Manager for the Illinois Tollway System, for this talk on April 5!  His talk, linked at the right, provides an excellent overview of the many measures the Illinois Tollway has undertaken to improve environmental performance of these very busy highways.   You will be impressed - and his talk with make the journey across the tollway system that much more interesting! 
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​(For a closer look at Bryan's slides, scroll down.) 

 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.   

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