The Illinois Department of Transportation will soon begin the two-year task of unsnarling the Hillside Bottleneck in the Chicago area.

As part of Governor George Ryan's Illinois First infrastructure improvement program, the congestion relief project is is expected to begin along Mannheim Road, near the Eisenhower Expressway in Hillside.
The bottleneck results from the merger of the East-West Tollway (I-88) and ramps from the Tri-State Tollway (I-294) and Roosevelt Road (IL 38) into a one-lane entrance to the Eisenhower Expressway west of Mannheim Road (US 12/20/45) and causes considerable congestion for about 14 hours each day. IDOT engineers had expected a seven-year window in which to correct the congestion, but Ryan has ordered the department to complete the work in two construction seasons and have it operational by Jan. 1, 2002.
Bruce Dinkheller, IDOT's Engineer of Project Implementation in the metropolitan Chicago area, said no lane closures are expected on the Eisenhower in 2000. The bulk of the first year's work in the $97.5-million project will be directed to the widening of Roosevelt and Mannheim Roads. Lane closures are expected to occur on the Eisenhower during the 2001 construction season.