June 2024
Walsh Construction performs a marquee pour for the I-290/I-88 Interchange Project at I-294
Hillside, Illinois - Walsh Construction recently poured a new pier cap over the entrance ramp connecting I-88 to I-294/I-290; a marquee pour for the I-290/I-88 Interchange Project at I-294.
The cap measures 100 feet long, 11 feet wide, and 12.75 feet tall and weighs approximately 2.2 million pounds. In a 12-hour shutdown of the ramp and lanes on I-88, crews poured 513 cubic yards on a formwork system that spanned 55 feet.
This formwork system required multiple months of design and a month and a half to build. After a two-to-three week cure period, the cap will be post tensioned and the girders for the new 600-foot bridge over I-88 will be set.
This interchange is the Illinois Tollway’s busiest, a corridor for 300,000 vehicles a day.
The reconfiguration and reconstruction of the I-290/I-88 Interchange is estimated at $700-$800 million and will reduce congestion, improve safety and address operational issues, as well as infrastructure conditions as part of the Illinois Tollway’s Central Tri-State Project. Work started in 2020 and is scheduled to be complete by the end of 2026.