http://www.gcmtravel.comNews from the Gary-Chicago-Milwaukee websiteimages/gcmlogo.gifhttp://www.gcmtravel.comhttp://www.gcmtravel.com/gcm/policies.jsp The Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) has implemented a revised policy and registration procedure for users to access Gateway Traveler Information System real-time traffic information. This real-time traffic information includes travel time and congestion data, camera images, dynamic message sign legend information, lane closure and construction information, and incident data. Please click here to start the registration process. It is very important that you read and understand the provisions contained in both the registration procedure and the traffic information access/reuse policy. IDOT wants this process to be convenient and beneficial to our users. We look forward to serving your current and future traffic information needs. 5-8-2008http://www.edensi94.com The Illinois Department of Transportation announced that, weather permitting, starting on Friday, April 4, it will begin putting into effect the closure of one lane in each direction along the entire length of the Edens Expressway/Interstate 94. These permanent lane closures will be in place through July north of Old Orchard Rd. and through August south of Old Orchard Rd., weather permitting. The closures are required to complete work on the second and final phase of the Edens Rehabilitation Project, which includes patching and resurfacing six bridge decks and resurfacing all three lanes of the entire length of the 14-mile expressway from Lawrence Ave. to Lake Cook Rd. Once IDOT starts putting the lane closures into effect after midnight Thursday into Friday April 4, it will take several days and nights to get traffic into the complete configuration for Stage 1. During this stage, cars will be driving on the right lane and the shoulder. In Stage 2, this configuration will flip, and cars will be using the left and center lane, while the right lane and shoulder will be closed. In Stage 3, from the end of July through the end of September, weather permitting, there will be three lanes open in each direction on the Edens Expressway north of Old Orchard Road except for during overnight hours, when two lanes will be closed for the final phase of resurfacing and one lane will remain open. The Edens south of Old Orchard Road will have three lanes open in each direction during the daytime starting at the end of August, with the nighttime closures continuing until the end of September. As of last fall, IDOT permanently expanded the service area for IDOT’s Emergency Traffic Patrol service from Lake Avenue to Lake Cook Road, at the northern terminus of the Edens. These increased patrols will help to ensure that emergency lane blockages are removed as quickly as possible. More information about the Edens project is available online at www.edensi94.com. 4-3-2008http://www.gcmtravel.com A new temporary ramp is now open for southbound I-294 traffic exiting at 95th Street. The temporary ramp leads to a signalized intersection where drivers can go east or west on 95th Street while the southbound exit to eastbound 95th Street is closed for reconstruction. 3-24-2008http://www.gcmtravel.com Traffic on IL Route 31 is now reduced to one lane in each direction on the southbound side of the road as work begins to reconstruct the bridge carrying traffic over I-88. When work to rebuild the northbound side of the bridge is completed later this summer, traffic will be shifted onto the new lanes on the northbound side of the bridge and work will begin to rebuild the southbound bridge. Traffic will be reduced to one lane in each direction from Airport Road to the I-88 interchange through the end of 2008. The ramp carrying IL Route 31 traffic to enter westbound I-88 is closed to traffic through late summer for reconstruction of the ramp bridge. A detour is posted directing traffic to go south on IL Route 31 to Indian Trail Road, west on Indian Trail Road to Orchard Road, and north on Orchard Road to enter I-88 westbound at the Orchard Road interchange. The ramp carrying eastbound I-88 traffic exiting to IL Route 31 is expected to be closed from May 1 through late summer. The posted detour for that ramp closure will direct traffic to exit at Orchard Road, go south on Orchard Road to Indian Trail Road, and east on Indian Trail Road to reach IL Route 31. 3-20-2008http://www.gcmtravel.com The southbound express lanes on I-290 between I-90 and Higgins Road will be reduced from three lanes to one lane. The left and center lanes are closed. The left northbound express lane is closed and two lanes remain open. This project is expected to be completed by the end of June. Please expect travel delays during this construction. 3-14-2008http://www.gcmtravel.com The Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) is reminding motorists that construction work has resumed on the I-55 Corridor Improvement Project in Will County. Currently, traffic is being shifted into a new configuration between Weber Rd. and I-80. The project will add a third lane to the roadway in both directions from Weber Rd. to I-80 and is intended to improve safety and reduce congestion. Although the existing two lanes of traffic will be maintained in both directions during daytime hours, drivers can expect overnight lane closures in the 14-mile long work zone. Drivers can expect inbound lane closures from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. and outbound lane closures from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. In addition, there will be narrow lanes, closed shoulders and lane shifts at multiple locations in the work zone. 2-29-2008http://www.in.gov/indot/div/projects/borman/index.html The Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) announces the approximately nine-month closures of I-65 between the bridge over I-80/94 and 15th Avenue, the ramp from I-80/94 west to I-65 north, the ramp from I-80/94 west to I-65 south and the ramp from I-80/94 east to I-65 north began March 1. Clearly posted signs are directing traffic to the detours. Until December 2008, various lanes of I-80/94 between Martin Luther King Drive and Central Avenue will be restricted at night while demolition and new bridge construction takes place at the I-65 bridges and ramps and the Colorado Street Bridge. For more information, visit the Borman Expressway Web site at http://www.in.gov/indot/div/projects/borman/index.html 1-14-2008http://www.gcmtravel.com The new roadway extending the I-355 from I-55 to I-80 is open as of November 12, 2007. In addition, the entire roadway from Army Trail Road to I-80 has been named the Veterans Memorial Tollway (I-355). Travel times and congestion data on the I-355 extension are now available on the GCM Travel site. 11-8-2007 We have implemented some improvements to the GCM web site to make it more convenient to use: When you scroll and zoom a map to a particular view, the location and zoom information is stored in a cookie on your browser. With this improvement, you can refresh the map to update its real-time information without losing track of the area you were viewing. The layers that you have chosen to view are also saved. The cookie is maintained so your preferred viewing area will be ready to use when you return to the site. The "Reset zoom" map tool has been replaced by the "Reset map" tool which resets the map to its initial location and zoom. A "My Travel Preferences" link has been added to the report pages. You may use this link to view the reports for your preferred locations after viewing the reports for another location 8-8-2006http://www.dot.il.gov/workzone/workzone.html Keep Us Alive Drive 45 is our commitment to keep workers and motorists safe in work zones. Each year, many people are killed in construction zone accidents, both commuters and workers. Please abide the posted speed limit in work zones. When workers are present, it's 45 M.P.H. - It's The Law. Join us in our pledge to increase awareness and promote safe driving in our work zones by displaying an orange ribbon. Together we can make our roadways a safer place to commute and work. With your help, we can see to it that a construction zone is not an end zone. 7-21-2006http://www.iltrafficalert.com The Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) and its partner The University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) have developed the Illinois Traffic Alert System. You may register to receive customized traffic reports containing vehicle speeds, travel times, construction, congestion and incident information through your e-mail inbox, cell phone text messaging, or other e-mail enabled mobile device. The system is initially being deployed in the Chicagoland area as part of IDOT's congestion mitigation effort, and will be deployed statewide in the near future. When you register, follow the instructions in order to: Choose the roadway segments about which you want to be notified Select the two times of day when you want to receive alerts Select the days of the week you want to receive alerts Customize alerts so you will receive them only if the average speed on the road is below what you select Customize the type of data you want to receive: incidents, construction, congestion and/or travel times 4-19-2006http://www.drivelesslivemore.com Through an initiative created by IDOT, seven public transportation agencies have launched a public education campaign called drive less, live more. Partners include the Regional Transportation Authority (RTA), the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT), the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP), the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA), the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority (ISTHA), Metra and Pace. This campaign is designed to provide drivers with easy access to information that provides alternatives to driving. A key part of the campaign is the www.drivelesslivemore.com web site that was funded under a CMAQ grant from the FHWA. The web site features a trip planner, transit system maps and schedules, travel advisories, and a commute-cost calculator. The campaign will also feature billboards, radio advertising and promotions, in addition to the web site to promote driving alternatives including public transit, vanpools, biking, and rollerblading. 12-15-2006http://www.dot.state.il.us/workzone/workzone.html Click here for a Illinois Department of Transportation work zone safety message. 8-19-2005http://www.gcmtravelstats.com Based on requests from you, the users of www.gcmtravel.com, we are pleased to announce the availability of historical travel time data for comparison to real-time conditions. We presently have several years of data available for comparison. Historical data is available through our Reports and through clicking our travel time icons on the Maps. Retrieval allows the user to initially see the real-time Travel Time data for today graphed against the collected data for the given day of the week. The X-axis (Horizontal) is a plot of the hours of the day starting at midnight. The Y-axis (Vertical) is the travel time range for the given route. By selecting More Detail (below the graph) you can plot the days of the week of your choice against today. The user can also review different routes using the pull-down and Make Chart button. We expect this new tool to assist motorists with trip planning and alternate route options relative to historical and real-time traffic conditions. Note: The graphical data for Illinois Tollway routes from approximately 12:30 am to roughly 4:00 am should be disregarded, as the systems producing this data are subject to nightly processes that interrupt and impact the data availability via www.gcmtravel.com. 6-21-2005cqt.jsp The Illinois Department of Transportation provides the 'beta' availability of a wireless-friendly version of Chicago Area Travel Times as part of the overall traveler information services from www.gcmtravel.com. This new feature is an extension of our existing Chicago Quick Traffic Report, available at ChicagoQuickTraffic.jsp, that displays travel time information of common regional interest. The wireless friendly page is www.gcmtravel.com. Using a wireless device with web enabled capability many cellular services will allow a majority of our customers to access this new page. The public can then navigate through a list of Expressways and Tollways to access a list of travel times for the chosen route. We anticipate that most users will have no trouble with the new page. We ask that those experiencing difficulty with the new wireless report to email us at GCM webmaster. Include your cellular service provider and device make and model to help us identify any issues. The page was built around the following specification. Your mobile device must support wireless markup language version 1.1 (WML 1.1) and wireless application protocol 2.0 (WAP 2.0), contact your mobile provider for more information. This feature is not intended for use while operating motor vehicles. Please drive safely and responsibly. 5-19-2005cameraReport.jsp The GCM Travel site now has added more camera snapshots and an improved camera report to help you view current traffic conditions. As on the other reports, you may view information about the cameras and the live camera images on a given roadway or on the roadways in your MyTravel "Default Locations". The camera report also includes a thumbnail of the most recent image available from the camera. You may click on the thumbnail to view a larger image together with reference views from the camera. 10-3-2005maps_chicago.jsp The www.gcmtravel.com web site now provides a more straightforward distinction for direction of travel in the reversible lanes. Two sets of color coded congestion segmentation are now displayed on the map. One representing outbound or northwest bound traffic flow and one for inbound or southeast bound traffic flow. The direction NOT exclusively colored gray is the live direction of flow. It should be noted that during transition of the reversible lane direction, both directions will appear gray as neither direction is fully open. As traffic begins to use the reversible lanes after a transition, the appropriate direction will resume with congestion colors. The diagram details the map layout of this area. From southeast to northwest the Kennedy Reversible segmentation is defined as: Inbound Mainline Inbound Reversible Outbound Reversible Outbound Mainline In the diagram, the Inbound direction is the operating direction of the Kennedy reversible lanes. The Travel Time Reports also reflect the direction of travel by listing both directions in the report. Note that the circled fields will make the direction of travel more obvious. 'N/A' values for the Travel Time and Speed, combined with a gray colored congestion indicator, identify the non-operating direction of traffic flow. 12-29-2003 The Illinois State Toll Highway Authority and Illinois Department of Transportation are pleased to present travel time information and congestion information for the Tollway routes through the GCM Travel Site. The Tollway Travel Times are indicated on the map page for Chicago using circular icons filled with black. These travel times are built on Tollway travel links. The IDOT Expressway Travel Times are Downtown Chicago based and are now represented by 'teardrop' icons that point in the direction of travel. 12-29-2003