Posted on 01/28/2017 10:15:55 AM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
Bill Bertram frequently felt uneasy as cars whizzed past while he waited in traffic to reach the Tri-State Tollway's Grand Avenue exit ramp in Gurnee in the months after a $19.4 million reconstruction project was completed in 2015.
Thoughts of being a sitting duck for a rear-end crash crossed his mind. Still, the 59-year-old Round Lake Beach resident said, driving north on the tollway to the westbound exit ramp was the most efficient option to head home from his Evanston job.
On Nov. 16, at about 5:15 p.m., the rear-end crash he worried about happened.
Bertram was stuck in a traffic jam in a 2011 Ford Fusion when he was hit by a 2010 Ford Transit Connect van three-quarters of a mile from the exit ramp, according to Illinois State Police. His car was totaled in the four-vehicle, chain-reaction crash that seriously injured him and a 66-year-old passenger from Lindenhurst.
"People who see my car say, 'Wow, I can't believe you're alive,'" said Bertram, who is coping with the injuries to his back, neck, left shoulder, elbow and wrist.
In September, eight people were injured when a big rig crashed into seven vehicles stuck in traffic trying to reach the same congested ramp, state police said.
Critics contend that the ramp has been plagued by frequently long, dangerous backups since the eastbound Grand Avenue exit ramp was improved in the two-year project that ended in 2015. They say not enough room for all the vehicles to use the one lane feeding the westbound ramp has led to the pileups at the interchange that carries vehicles to several popular tourist attractions.
However, after some study, the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority says it now plans to improve the westbound Grand Avenue exit in a construction project this summer. Tollway spokesman Dan Rozek said the work will involve extending a barrier wall to improve northbound traffic flow to both Grand Avenue exits.
The wall will separate vehicles exiting westbound from the rest of the I-94 traffic and block drivers from cutting in front of the line and creating the congestion. Currently, the wall separates traffic exiting onto the eastbound Grand Avenue ramp from the rest of the toll road, Rozek said.
Gurnee Mayor Kristina Kovarik said the town was informed about the tollway's plans this fall. The village draws millions of visitors annually for Gurnee Mills, Six Flags Great America and KeyLime Cove Indoor Waterpark Resort.
"Whether you're going east- or westbound (to Grand), you're going to be on the other side of that wall," Kovarik said of the new configuration. "Because the problem -- and I'm not an engineer, but I drive it myself every day -- is not the ramp. It's people who hug lanes and cause everybody to stop. And so the traffic can't move smoothly."
Traffic reviews
The 2015 interchange improvement project allowed northbound drivers to veer to the right in two dedicated lanes for the eastbound Grand Avenue exit, which is used for Great America, and is separated from the other four lanes by a barrier wall. Rozek said the eastbound ramp also was lengthened and widened as part of the project.
The tollway has since reviewed traffic patterns and concluded extending that wall will improve traffic flow and safety for drivers heading to the westbound exit ramp without compromising the benefits achieved for the eastbound exit, Rozek said. The work is expected to be finished this year, although no final cost has been determined.
Currently, drivers trying to reach the westbound ramp are part of mainline traffic and should be in a lane closest to the wall. Congestion and safety problems are caused when traffic from the other three tollway lanes cut toward the westbound exit.
Tollway officials say there are safety measures in place to alert drivers to congestion around Grand Avenue.
Rozek said a traffic queue detection system is activated to alert northbound drivers when backups occur on the westbound Grand Avenue ramp and the tollway near the exit. When traffic slows, the detectors trigger flashing warning lights on two roadside signs long before the exit, he said.
The system is connected to an overhead electronic sign about four miles south of Grand Avenue that provides additional congestion warnings to drivers. The signs also provide travel times and alert drivers to changes in traffic patterns.
As part of the scheduled summer improvements, Rozek said, tollway engineers are evaluating modifying overhead signs to direct drivers to use the three lanes to the left and limit use of the far right lane to vehicles exiting to westbound Grand Avenue.
"The Illinois tollway's highest priority is safety and protection of the customers who use our system," he said. "The engineering department regularly reviews traffic data and evaluates roadways throughout the tollway system to identify improvements to enhance driver safety."
A periodic issue
Attorney Jennifer Ashley, who represents Bertram, said the rear-end collisions show the westbound Grand Avenue exit configuration on the northbound Tri-State has not been working. She said the proposed barrier wall extension "could help" and appears to be the only available option without a major overhaul of the exits.
"While it certainly can't hurt the traffic situation, only time will tell if extending the barrier wall will truly make a difference," Ashley said.
She said case law essentially negates the idea of suing a government agency such as the tollway over the exit design. A lawsuit likely will be filed on behalf of Bertram against the 34-year-old Lindenhurst man they say caused the crash.
Ashley contends the electronic congestion warning signs have not been enough of a safety measure.
"A sign with a flashing light one time along the roadway is not going to make a difference," she said. "If you're going 65 mph -- some people drive faster -- you may not even recognize or be able to see what the sign is trying to tell you."
Gurnee's tollway ramps have been a periodic issue since at least August 2000. That's when an Iowa woman and two children were killed after a semitrailer truck plowed into their minivan in a five-vehicle crash on the tollway's northbound side as they waited to reach a congested eastbound Grand Avenue ramp heading to Great America.
In 2001, Gurnee paid about $70,000 toward installation of the first electronic message board to warn drivers of the eastbound Grand Avenue exit backups. Longtime concerns from village officials about the eastbound Grand exit's congestion led to the improvements made in the 2015 reconstruction project.
Another problem arose in 2005 regarding the westbound Grand Avenue exit on northbound I-94. Rollover crashes on the ramp led Gurnee officials to demand a sign and flashing warning light to alert drivers to what had been a tight, winding ramp before the latest reconstruction.
Roughly 40,000 vehicles use the eight-ramp Grand Avenue interchange daily, according to the tollway.
Knowing how that area works politically, that exit has probably been a problem for decades. So instead of fixing the exit to minimize the problem. They depend of lights and other bs rather than fix the problem.
Chicago and that area never fix problems. They just form committees and spend money to look good rather than fix the problem.
Bill, actually I can believe it. Your passenger compartment looked largely intact to me. If you want to see scary see what happened when my wife had a head on collision with a full-up Yukon with her little 2000 BMW Z3. That will shrivel your balls, fella. She survived by the way, but that valiant little BMW protected her. Completely totaled and nearly unrecognizable as it was.
Chicago gets in the news without any shots being fired.
This nothing to do with Chicago. It’s about the ineptitude of every highway bureaucracy in the U.S.
The locale is actually Gurnee, which is north of Chicago. So maybe more shots DO have to be fired for Chicago to make the news again.
The interchange is an old-style four-leaf clover, which is hugely problematic in heavy traffic. Northbound traffic is getting backed up going onto the cloverleaf to westbound Grand Avenue.
The Tollway authority is actually doing something by extending a barrier now separating a ramp to eastbound Grand Avenue to include traffic going onto the cloverleaf.
What the authority should do is replace the interchange with something that can really move traffic, such as a diverging diamond.
But they spent millions of taxpayers dollars pretending to care about fixing the problem which is the most important thing.
People that use the road should pay for the road.
LOL.
And some people really, really pay, all right.
No kidding, TOL - Totally avoidable accident...just let people exit the highway in peace!
Thanks to both of you.
That is so typical of what happens in Illinois and California with highway problems, people behavior problems and problems due to a powerful rat or group of rats.
Move the Waukegan toll structure north past the Rosencrans exit - the Grand Avenue interchange at rush hour is a zoo all through the year, not just when Great America is in season, and I’ll bet a significant number of cars bail there just to avoid the last northbound toll (which is about double the others on the road). And if they put the toll booths between 173 and the Wisconsin border, they’d still get the cheeseheads heading home.
No, the tollway's highest priority is keeping the money flowing into its coffers. If it's highest priority was safety and protection of the customers, there would be no problems such as this.
It wouldn't surprise me. I've seen a line waiting to take the last exit before the toll on SB I-95 in Delaware.
I agree that accident was totally avoidable. I live about 15 miles from that interchange, and I’ve driven there at least 25 times. No one should blame any government employees. We should only blame the driver who rearended the other car.
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