Report: IDOT Weighing Reconfiguring Left-Lane Exit, Entrance Ramps On Eisenhower
CHICAGO (CBS) -- If you drive the Eisenhower Expressway, you know how confusing the left-lane exits and entrances at either end of Oak Park can be.
But as CBS 2's Kris Habermehl reports, those exits may soon be cast to history.
The entrances and exits at Austin Boulevard and Harlem Avenue have always been on the left-hand side. But the Chicago Tribune reports the Illinois Department of Transportation has devised a plan to move them onto the right side so as to improve safety.
IDOT tells the Tribune the stretch of the Eisenhower between Mannheim Road and Cicero Avenue has the highest accident rate of any stretch in the Chicago expressway system, and that left-hand ramps have a 49 percent higher crash rate than those on the right.
The Harlem and Austin exits are hot spots for crashes, IDOT told the newspaper.
The reconfiguration of the exits would be part of a major upgrade to the Eisenhower. The project may also include a westward extension of the Chicago Transit Authority Blue Line, and the creation of a toll car pool lane, the Tribune reports.
IDOT is set to present the upgrade plan at 7 p.m. Monday at the Oak Park Village Hall.
