A disruption for years, Old Orchard Road construction will last at least one more, county officials say

After acknowledging “many delays” in a years-long construction project on Old Orchard Road in Skokie, a spokesperson from the Cook County Department of Transportation and Highway on Tuesday said crews are laboring overtime to complete the project next year. 

Nathan Roseberry, the assistant superintendent of the county agency, provided the Skokie Village Board on Tuesday, Sept. 23, an update on the construction improving portions of Old Orchard Road and other major thoroughfares in the village. 

“As opposed to taking time to go through all those delays, I wanted to reinforce that we’re taking this seriously and we’ve engaged with the contractor and we’ve started to accelerate the construction earlier this year and we will continue to do so with this project as soon as possible,” Roseberry said of the Old Orchard Road overhaul, which began in 2023. 

The project targets an approximately one-mile segment of Old Orchard Road between Woods Drive and Skokie Boulevard, the bridge and Interstate-94 ramps within that stretch, and parts of four nearby streets that intersect with Old Orchard Road, a Cook County website shows. 

Roseberry said construction crews from F.H. Paschen, the contractor, have already improved the westbound I-94 exit ramp and the “majority” of the eastbound side on Old Orchard Road. 

The crews are “on target” to this year finish renovating the westbound side of Old Orchard Road, the south half of the I-94 bridge, and a multiuse trail between Woods Drive and Skokie Boulevard, Roseberry said. The contractor reportedly will also remove the north half of the bridge. 

In 2027, the county will finish the project by “primarily” focusing on the bridge and adding new traffic signals, lighting and landscape restoration, Roseberry said. 

Meaghan Johnson, a Cook County spokesperson, said via email that the Old Orchard Road renovations were originally scheduled to complete in 2026 but the transportation department, which is the agency leading the project, now estimates it will finish in the summer of 2027. 

The delays, she said, were caused by “unforeseen complexities related to the bridge over I-94, including the location of utilities.

“Once digging started, utilities were found in unexpected locations,” Johnson said. “Redesigns for storm sewers and utility relocations were required before work could proceed. Activities were unable to resume before winter began.”

The Cook County Board of Commissioners voted in July to grant F.H. Paschen’s request to increase their original contract by $1.28 million. As a result, the county is now set to pay the construction company more than $35.7 million for the Old Orchard Road project.  

Other roadway projects the county oversees, like the renovations to Church Street between Linder Avenue and Gross Point, finished in 2026, Roseberry said. The county aims to begin renovating Oakton Street from Skokie Boulevard to McCormick Boulevard, this fall, he said.

“I would be remiss if I didn’t express frustration on behalf of the community about these projects,” Skokie Mayor Ann Tennes said addressing Roseberry from the dais on Tuesday. 

“There are hundreds of miles of roadway in Skokie. And being completely transparent … the only construction project I hear about is Old Orchard Road. I hear about it from residents, I hear about it from businesses.”

Purpose of the Project

The official website the county created for the Old Orchard Road project states that the construction aims to “alleviate congestion, increase safety and expand access to pedestrians and people biking through” the area. 

It will reportedly do this by adding turn lanes to the I-94 eastbound ramp, widening Old Orchard Road and the bridge that runs over I-94, and installing new storm sewers, traffic signals and lighting. 

Parts of Lawler, Lavergne, Bronx and Lamon avenues that intersect with Old Orchard Road are also part of the work.

A new multi-use path on the eastbound side of Old Orchard Road will provide direct access to the North Branch Cook County Forest Preserve Trail, the website states. 

The Illinois Department of Transportation and the Village of Skokie are the county’s partners in the Old Orchard Road project. 

Timeline of the Project

The project website’s official timeline — which includes the disclaimer “Timeline Subject to Change” — states “preconstruction” work began in 2023 when authorities selected a contractor and relocated utility services out of the area. 

Construction work began in April 2024 and, by the end of 2025, improved the I-94 westbound exit ramp and the eastbound side of Old Orchard Road between where Old Orchard Road intersects with Lawler Avenue and Skokie Boulevard, according to the official timeline.

That means it reportedly took crews two years to improve the eastbound side of a less than half-mile stretch of Old Orchard Road and just one of the three I-94 ramps the project aims to renovate.

The webpage’s timeline states that the “current” construction work in 2026 aims to improve the westbound side of Old Orchard Road and the bridge that runs over I-94. 

Another section of the project’s official webpage states that construction improving the remaining eastbound half of Old Orchard Road, as well as the I-94 eastbound and westbound exit ramps, started in April 2024 and will continue through October 2026. 

A Sept. 23 update on the Old Orchard Road project website states that crews have completed the new deck of the south bridge and the concrete base of the road from Lamon Avenue to Lawler.

Construction work is “on target to switch traffic to the new southern half of the bridge” by the end of October, and drivers should expect to see the westbound I-94 ramp open to traffic in November, the webpage says. 

Construction improving the westbound lanes of the Old Orchard road and the westbound I-94 entrance ramp will take place from November 2026 to September 2027, the webpage states.

The timeline states that the project should be completed in 2027 once all of Old Orchard Road and the I-94 ramps are improved, and other fixtures like lighting and traffic signals are added.

In terms of how the county will “accelerate” the construction, Roseberry said it will pursue overtime for longer days and weekend work.

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