Officials Look to Bridge $2 Billion Gap for Route 53 Extension

Lake County leaders last May agreed, after years of discussion, to extend Route 53 north as a tollway and are now trying to find a way to bridge a $2 billion gap to fund the project, according to the Daily Herald. 

Tolls will only cover a small part of the $2.5 billion project and everything from adding more tolls to the Tri-State Tollway to creating tolls on a current portion of Route 53 to "levying project-specific gas or sales taxes in Lake County," has been discussed, according to the Daily Herald. 

The proposal calls for a four-lane tollway to run north from Lake Cook Road to just south of Route 120 with a speed limit of 45 mph, according to the Illinois Tollway website. 

A Route 120 bypass would be added as part of the proposed project and would consist of four lanes from east of Wilson Road to east of Route 45. The bypass would have four lanes and the speed limit would be 45 mph, according to the Illinois Tollway. 

The project also calls for upgrades to the western end of Illinois Route 120 and would include four lanes from Route 12 to the western portion of the Route 120 bypass. Upgrades would also be made to the eastern end of Route 120 with four lanes of traffic from the Route 120 Bypass to Interstate 94. 

A map of the proposed project can be viewed on the Illinois Tollway website.