Drivers Hope 355 Cuts Stress, Travel

November 5, 2007

By Guy Tridgell sun-times news group

For Dorothy Mucha, life will become a whole lot easier in one week.

The Lemont mother of two wakes up in the dark each workday, drops off her kindergartner and second-grader at school and heads to her job as a claims adjuster in Naperville.

Her commute has her zigging on Lemont Road and zagging on 75th Street to get to work.

The 15-mile trip, all of it done on local roads, takes 30 minutes. If there's a school bus in front of her, starting and stopping to pick up kids, Mucha's estimated travel time might as well get thrown under it.

"That's been my life for the last three years," she said with a laugh.

Help is coming with Interstate 355's south extension. After three years of construction, the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority will open the $738 million toll road Nov. 12.

Mucha said I-355's 127th Street interchange in Lemont will shave as many as 15 minutes from her commute in both the morning and afternoon.

That means some extra sleep, an earlier dinner and more help from Mom with homework. Shelling out the extra bucks each month in tolls is a small price to pay, she said.

"It will be a little frustrating to spend that extra money, but it will be worth it," Mucha said. "Every minute counts."

Connecting Interstate 55 near Bolingbrook and Interstate 80 near New Lenox, the 12.5-mile extension was the draw for tens of thousands of new residents in the past decade. Without I-355's allure of shorter commuting times, they would not be here. In the past six years, the population of Will County grew from 502,266 to 668,217.

DePaul University transportation professor Joseph Schwieterman said experiences such as Mucha's were reminders that I-355, despite all its ballyhooed opportunities for economic development, was planned in the first place to get people to their jobs faster.

He noted that Will County and the southwest suburbs have among the worst residents-to-jobs ratios in the country.

"A good portion of Will County leaves Will County for their jobs in the morning. They are doing it on inadequate roads," Schwieterman said. "This will make things much more efficient. The road was really about quality of life and less-stressful lifestyles."

New Lenox resident Darrell Langlois said I-355 will mean fewer missed softball games and dinners with his wife and their three young children. Langlois, who works in Oak Brook, hopes I-355 brings an end to the days of commutes as long as 21/2 hours one way during snowstorms on Illinois 83, Archer Avenue and Gougar Road.

He will be paying for the peace of mind. Langlois will fork over $2 a day passing back and forth through the south extension's lone toll plaza near Spring Creek in New Lenox.

For drivers who don't have an I-PASS and pay with cash, it will be worse. A round trip will cost $4 a day at the most expensive plaza on Illinois' 274-mile tollway system.

"The time is much more important than the money," said Langlois, finance director for the village of Oak Brook. "I work in government. I know that roads aren't built for free."

In New Lenox, the village is planning two huge shopping centers at the U.S. 6 interchange. Silver Cross Hospital officials want to open a new hospital in New Lenox, closer to I-355.

But New Lenox Mayor Tim Baldermann said the aspect of I-355 that most residents are looking forward to is the time the road will save.

"The most important thing I-355 brings is (better) quality of life," Baldermann said. "People want to be home with their families. They don't want to be stuck in traffic."

For Homer Glen's Chris Gad, the south extension makes him a better employee.

A salesman for a company that provides construction supplies for office-building projects, Gad drives as many as 300 miles a week between Indiana and the northwest suburbs. He estimates I-355 will allow him to spend an hour more a day working instead of driving.

"That's less windshield time," Gad said. "My job should be in front of my customers or on job sites. It shouldn't be in a car."