Interstate 490 (I-490), also known as the O'Hare West Bypass and Western O'Hare Beltway, is a six-mile (9.7 km) electronic toll highway and a beltway that is currently under construction near Chicago, Illinois; it will run along the west side of O'Hare International Airport.[1] The tollway will connect I-294 (Tri-State Tollway) to a western access point to the airport. From there, it will continue northward to an extension of Illinois Route 390 (IL 390, formerly known as the Elgin-O'Hare Expressway) and I-90 (Jane Addams Memorial Tollway). The O'Hare Western Bypass is part of the Elgin–O'Hare Western Access (EOWA) project.[2] Building the highway will affect the villages of Elk Grove Village, Wood Dale, Itasca, and Bensenville.[3] The route will run through the 1979 American Airlines Flight 191 crash site, the deadliest aviation accident in US history.[4]
Route description
I-490 will begin at a partial interchange with I-294 (Tri-State Tollway) in Franklin Park, south of O'Hare International Airport.[5] There will be an interchange with Franklin Avenue/Green Street. The tollway will head north before curving westward to briefly parallel the Canadian Pacific Railway before crossing it. Immediately afterwards, the tollway will have an interchange with IL 19 (Irving Park Road). On the western side of O'Hare International Airport, I-490 will have an interchange with IL 390 (Elgin–O'Hare Tollway) at the entrance to a planned western terminal.[6] Continuing north, I-490 will cross over the Canadian Pacific Railway and the Union Pacific Railroad Milwaukee Subdivision and have an interchange with IL 72 (Touhy Avenue) before ending at a trumpet interchange with I-90 (Jane Addams Memorial Tollway) in Des Plaines.[7]
On August 25, 2011, the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority (ISHTA) approved a $12-billion (equivalent to $16 billion in 2023[10]) capital plan called Move Illinois, which seeks to improve toll roads under their jurisdiction; the authority doubled toll rates to help fund it.[11][12] The bypass is also part of the EOWA project.[13][14]
In November 2015, the Canadian Pacific Railway (doing business in the US as the Soo Line Railroad) sought a federal injunction to block ISHTA from acquiring land in the Bensenville Rail Yard to build the tollway, over fears that this would impact rail traffic. In 2016, ISHTA sued the Canadian Pacific Railway to request that the United States Surface Transportation Board allow for the construction of the tollway. On June 13, 2018, ISHTA and the Canadian Pacific Railway agreed to settle the dispute.[16][17][18]
Construction on the interchange with I-90 began on September 12, 2018; the interchange was scheduled to be finished in 2023, but that has since been pushed out to 2025.[19][20] The project is planned to be finished in 2026.[14]
In preparation for the interchange at Interstate 90, and the widening of I-90, the Des Plaines over-highway oasis structure was permanently closed on March 16, 2014.[21] The over-highway oasis structure began to be deconstructed immediately, but the gas stations and gas station stores remained open.[22] These businesses were eventually closed on December 14, 2018.[23] The oasis, which opened on June 24, 1959, was the second oldest of the five original tollway oases in Illinois.[24] The gas station buildings were finally demolished in April 2019, and the new bridge decks over I-90, placed almost exactly where the oasis was previously located, were installed in June 2019.[citation needed]
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