WJOL Tours the new Houbolt Road Extension

The privately financed project by Houbolt Road Extension JV, LLC, a joint venture between United Bridge Partners and CenterPoint Properties, involves constructing a new 1.5 mile-long highway extension including a 0.4-mile bridge over the Des Plaines River to connect Interstate 80 with the CenterPoint Intermodal Center and its Union Pacific and Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway intermodal facilities. The HRE-JV will also operate and maintain the bridge while collecting bridge tolls under a 99-year lease agreement with the City of Joliet.

The bridge deck is 1,880 feet feet long
The main span over the Des Plaines River is 460 feet wide, to accommodate barge traffic and 55 feet high at the peak
There’s a 6,000 foot run up to the bridge, northbound 3,200 feet and southbound 2,800 feet
For the bridge they’re using 11.5 million pounds of steel
12,000 yards of concrete on the bridge
14,000 yards of concrete on the run ups

Scheduled to open in the spring of 2023 and full completion in the fall of the same year.