Just saw the dreaded “Expect Delays” sign on Rt 59, just south of Montgomery Road, stating construction will start in a few days for 6 miles (!)

Any idea what this is? It better not be resurfacing...the concrete is in great condition.

This is gonna suck if they start closing lanes for the summer.

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They were doin construction on Rt 59 like 7 years ago, around Warrenville.

Is this further up north or some shit?

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Yeah, that was adding a third lane each way from I-88 down to Fox Valley mall. This would start a bit south of that and go all the way to downtown Plainfield.

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interestin'. That rt. 59 bullshit will never end.

I always thought they needed to build a new highway to run along rt. 59. A la 355 which runs along rt. 53.

Has there ever been any talk of doin' this?

A highway to run from let's say I-80 & Larkin all the way up thru Aurora, Elgin, etc.

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Because they dicked around in doing it and then the whole area was developed. Then they thought out by Randall and the same. Then they thought 47 and what’s the point. 59 has been under construction since I was a kid 127 years ago.

We definitely need a north south highway in Kane County. The Prairie Parkway was supposed to be it, but it was too far west and still had opposition. They completely ruined Randall Road which was almost all farms even into the early 90’s. They let cookie cutter repeat shopping centers go up from Crystal Lake down to Aurora and put lights at everyone. Any foresight would have at least used a frontage road approach to funnel the shopping center traffic to one main light.

There are still stretches that are only two lanes, the worst of which is that area around 38 and at I-90.

The Rte 47 strategy between 88 and 90 seems to be roundabouts, lol. They put in two recently.

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Hawaii (fuck) You

You can look up Construction projects on IDOTs website. My guess is signaling infrastructure.

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@audioidkid

The time to have built out 59 (at least from it's southern end to I-88) would have been back when they were buying land for 355. But the powers that be were still hell bent on pushing 355/290/53 north to hook up with 294. To insist that they needed two different north south roads to connect to I-80 would have risked getting none.

A friend of mine was doing ramp analyses for the eventual 390/Roselle Road interchange all the way back in 1986, and IDOT already had the right of way. To build 59 to an Interstate, they would have had to buy the land in the late 70s.

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"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal

interestin' analysis in the underlined statement.

But I dont get the previous statement. 355/53 meet up with 290. Nowhere near 294.

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They wanted to continue north of Lake Cook Road and swing it northeast. I can't remember if it was supposed to end out towards Gurnee or closer to the Wisconsin border. But then too many people bought houses and that was the end of that.

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"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal

I'd say rush hour traffic is up to at least 90% of pre covid. I forgot how much I hate it and how much time it adds to a day

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

Hell, the 355 extension south took forever to get done too.

IIRC it was supposed to go up to Route 120 somewhere.
Long Grove was supposedly the main obstacle preventing that from happening.

Fairfield Rd could be consumed as part of a route 53 extension....still a lot of open space there. The problem is getting through Lake Zurich and Long Grove.

This was desperately needed...they missed their chance a long time ago.

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We have a document written 250 years ago that still endures as the basis for our way of life but city planners couldnt look 25-50 years into the future and build 6,7,8 lane roads in the 50's and 60's.

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Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.

The way I heard it, 12 was supposed to be the route. So 53 N doesn't dead end at LCR, it replaces 12 all the way to 120.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

Sometimes they try and we end up with glorious stretches of roads like I-180 down to Hennepin for no particular reason as the proposed industrial site never developed beyond a now
Closed steel works and an ethanol plant that doesn’t need a highway.

The problem is that if they had built 6,7, or 8 lane roads then you would need 12 or 13 lane roads now. People just keep on buying cheaper houses further out until they fill the capacity again.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

53 was to head basically due north and then tie-in with 120, near Hainesville. The Wetlands, Killdeer, and Long Grove ended that.

https://chronicleillinois.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Lake-082819-Route-53-future-PHOTO-3.jpg

you don't build 8 lane highways and then only use 3 lanes of it...That's is the why fiber tech bubble burst in the early 00s. Enron...

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@audioidkid

I-180 was developed in part because Illinois still had archaic truck weight limits. By making it an Interstate, they got to use the Federal limits (80,000 pounds on 5 axles). So then the road got overspecified to meet Federal standards.

That is a shitty road, I hate using it when visiting family in Peoria because there is never cell phone coverage. I'd much rather go south on I-39 and cut across from there on a state road.

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"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal

Yeah but they needed it for that industrial complex that was planned. In laws own some ground down there. It’s zoned industrial in preparation for massive development. It’s a good road for people to take cars on and see how fast they can go or so I’m told.