I-88 ramp to Route 83 closed for days after semi crash in Oak Brook, Illinois
Crews have been out all day assessing the damage on the Ronald Reagan Memorial Tollway (I-88) ramp to Route 83 in Oak Brook, Illinois, after a semi-trailer truck hit a support beam.
While Illinois Toll Highway Authority engineers investigate the damage to the beam, drivers and workers at a nearby gas station said they are feeling the impact.
According to Illinois State Police, a commercial truck hauling an excavator attempted to go under the bridge just after 7 p.m. when it damaged the overpass.
Illinois State Police said the truck damaged a support beam, impacting the ramp's structure. Repairs to the ramp are expected to take several days.
Illinois Tollway officials said the closure will include a northbound lane, shoulder, and a portion of the left turn lane on northbound on Route 83.
Illinois Tollway officials recommend commuters traveling southbound on Illinois Route 83 seek alternate routes to avoid delays. Drivers can use 22nd Street or Cermak Road, or Highland Avenue to exit from westbound I-88.
To some motorists, the whole situation is a real pain.
"This is news to me because I was asleep, I woke and you're telling me this," said Elaina Dawson, who commutes in Oak Brook. "So I'm like OK, I'm not going back that way."
Dawson said she travels from Chicago to Oakbrook for school. She normally takes I-88 and gets off at the Route 83 southbound exit, but now, she has to think of an alternate route.
"It's going to be a complete turnaround," Dawson said. "So either I've got to take the street all the way from south down here, or take Ogden all the way down, but I'm pretty sure everybody else is going to learn that route too."
Dawson said she already deals with traffic problems taking I-88, and fears the closure will just make everything worse.
"My morning normally starts at 4, and you would think it would be a nice and smooth ride. No!" said Dawson. "So it's either between the crazy drivers in the morning that got the zoomies and try to get through all that or the traffic."
The owner of a Shell station on 22nd Street did not want to go on camera, but said he has noticed his business has slowed down — and he believes it is due to the ramp being closed in the wake of the damage.
It is not clear if anyone was injured in the crash that forced the closures.
