Pace Suburban Bus service is asking riders and non-riders to weigh in on potential express service along highways that run through the western and northwest suburbs.
The study is looking at the section of Interstate 290 between west-suburban Forest Park and northwest-suburban Schaumburg, as well as the section of I-88 that branches off I-290 in Hillside and goes southwest to Lisle. The Illinois Department of Transportation received funding to make the highways more transit-friendly by improving the shoulders allow Pace bus operators to drive on them to bypass traffic congestion during rush hours.
Pace already provides Bus-on-Shoulder service on I-55/Stevenson Expressway and I-94 /Edens Expressway. Bus drivers can only use the shoulder when general traffic slows to less than 35 mph, and they can not travel faster than 35 mph on the shoulder, or drive more than 15 mph faster than general traffic.
The study is still in the early stages – the steering committee held its first meeting on March 14, and community meetings haven’t been scheduled. And just because the study is completed doesn’t mean anything will come of it, at least in the near term. Streetsblog readers may recall me reporting in February 2022 about a similar study of the I-294/Tri-State Tollway corridor between south-suburban Harvey and the area around O’Hare Airport. The study was quietly finished in July 2022, but Pace is yet to implement its recommendations.
I-290/I-88 Corridor Study…