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Dan Ryan cost drives toward $1 billion
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| Contributor | Imperator |
| Last Edited | Imperator Sep 17, 2006 08:29am |
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| Category | News |
| Media | Newspaper - Chicago Tribune |
| News Date | Sunday, September 17, 2006 02:00:00 PM UTC0:0 |
| Description | The cost to rebuild the Dan Ryan Expressway is ballooning toward $1 billion--almost double the state's original projection of $550 million, according to a Tribune analysis of contracts and budget documents.
The resulting drain on funds will force the diversion of money that was intended for scores of other road projects across the state, transportation officials said. No decisions will be made about delaying or eliminating projects until the final tab on the Ryan rehab is known, they said.
But with more than a year of work remaining on the Ryan (Interstate Highway 90/94), and the cost of materials and labor climbing, the price tag may exceed $1 billion, officials at the Illinois Department of Transportation acknowledge.
"Yes, the inflation in cost is huge and upsets us very much," said Diane O'Keefe, deputy director of highways at IDOT.
Instead of restoring the Ryan to the way it was in the 1960s, IDOT decided to make improvements in safety and capacity, which added greatly to the cost, she said. But officials never told the public how much the improvements would cost.
Seven bridges, extra lanes and other elements that were not part of the original plan have been added, O'Keefe said. Decisions on some of the extra work were made before inflation in the construction industry soared in the last several years, she said.
IDOT's best-case scenario is to try to hold total costs to $934 million when the Ryan project wrap up late next year, O'Keefe said during an interview at IDOT's Chicago offices Friday. But she said there are no guarantees that the remaining work won't exceed estimates. |
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