The Illinois Tollway board approved contracts totaling more than $42 million at its Oct. 25 meeting.

The Illinois Tollway board of directors approved two construction contracts and one professional engineering services contract totaling more than $42 million at its Oct. 25 meeting.

Nearly $555.2 million in construction contracts has been approved by the Tollway board in 2018, as part of the seventh year of the Tollway's 15-year, $14 billion capital program, Move Illinois: The Illinois Tollway Driving the Future.

More than $6.1 billion has been invested by the Illinois Tollway since the Move Illinois Program began in 2012, with nearly $1.8 billion of that total committed to small, diverse and veteran-owned firms.

In addition, the capital program has created or sustained an estimated 63,820 total jobs as of September 2018.

October awards include a contract that will begin construction of the I-490 Interchange Project that will connect the Illinois Route 390 Tollway to the new I-490 Tollway and create direct access to and from Chicago O'Hare International Airport.

The $340 million project includes construction of three miles of I-490 Tollway mainline along with 16 ramps and 15 bridges to deliver full mobility on the west side of the airport. The new I-490/IL 390 Interchange, which includes providing access to O'Hare Airport to and from the west, is scheduled to be complete by mid-2023. Additional ramps connecting the new I-490 Tollway to O'Hare Airport are scheduled be complete by 2025.

October contracts awarded include:

• A $38.3 million construction contract to Judlau Contracting Inc., College Point, N.Y., for roadway and bridge construction on Illinois Route 390 between Illinois Route 83 and York Road.
• A $338,863 construction contract to Lizzette Medina Landscape Management, Evanston, Ill., for landscaping work at the Illinois Route 251 Interchange on the Reagan Memorial Tollway (I-88).
• A $3.7 million professional engineering services contract to Parsons Transportation Group Inc. Chicago, Ill., for planning studies and master plan services to improve the Illinois Route 390 Tollway from Lake Street to County Farm Road.

The contracts approved Oct. 25 include one prime contractor, 11 subcontractors and five subconsultants that are certified as disadvantaged, minority- and women-owned business enterprise (D/M/WBE) firms, as well as two subcontractor and two subconsultants that are certified veteran-owned firms.

Commitments for D/M/WBE participation range from 1.5 to 5 percent per contract and commitments for veteran participation range from 25 to 30 percent per contract.

Move Illinois: The Illinois Tollway Driving the Future is aimed at improving mobility, relieving congestion, reducing pollution, creating as many as 120,000 jobs and linking economies throughout the region.

The Illinois Tollway is a user-fee system that receives no state or federal funds for maintenance and operations. The agency maintains and operates 294 miles of roadways in 12 counties in northern Illinois, including the Reagan Memorial Tollway (I-88), the Veterans Memorial Tollway (I-355), the Jane Addams Memorial Tollway (I-90), the Tri-State Tollway (I-94/I-294/I-80) and the Illinois Route 390 Tollway.

For information, visit illinoistollway.com.

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