Route Description
The southern terminus of I-355 is northeast of New Lenox, where the highway intersects I-80. I-355 is routed north and slightly west through rural, hilly portions of Will County. Just after the US 6 interchange (mile 1.0), tollway drivers pay a toll at Spring Creek Toll Plaza, the only toll plaza on the southern extension of I-355. It continues north through the rural sections of Will County, having exits that serve the towns of Homer Glen and Lockport. At 135th Street (approximately mile 8.0) in Lemont, Interstate 355 briefly enters Cook County. After an interchange at 127th Street (mile 9.0), I-355 crosses over the Des Plaines River on the Des Plaines River Valley Bridge before returning to Will County. Shortly north of the bridge, I-355 intersects I-55 at Bolingbrook (mile 12.5). Multiple flyover ramps connect all directions of both highways.
North of I-55, I-355 continues to run almost due north through the established western suburbs of Chicago in DuPage County. Travelers pay another toll just north of Boughton Road, at the Boughton Road Toll Plaza (mile 13.5). Continuing north, I-355 has another multiple flyover interchange with I-88 (miles 19.5 and 23.0), officially designated the Ronald Reagan Memorial Tollway. On the southern end of the interchange, northbound I-355 has exits to both directions of I-88. I-355 then swings below I-88 and runs side-by-side with the other tollway for 1 mile (2 km). Southbound exits to both directions of I-88 are at the northern end of the interchange. At the Army Trail Road Toll Plaza (mile 29.0), through traffic pays the last toll of the tollway. I-355 has no tolls north of the Army Trail Road exit (mile 30) in Addison. There is one untolled exit (mile 31.5) at U.S. Route 20 (Lake Street) north of the tollway. I-355 terminates at the I-290 interchange near the border of the villages of Itasca and Addison.
As a result of a toll rate increase effective January 1, 2012, the northernmost two toll plazas (Boughton Road and Army Trail Road) charge $1.90 cash and $0.95 for cars with I-PASS and E-ZPass. The Spring Creek Toll Plaza charges $3.80 for travelers paying with cash and $1.90 for I-PASS and E-ZPass. All three toll plazas force traffic paying with cash to exit right into an area, separate from the dedicated I-PASS lanes. Drivers paying with cash then pay their tolls at manned plaza tollbooths. I-PASS and E-ZPass equipped cars and trucks are permitted to stay on the mainline and pay tolls at highway speeds in the tollway's Open Road Tolling lanes.
On I-355, the only control cities that are actual cities are Joliet and St. Louis, Missouri. Other control cities on I-355 are limited to general areas of suburban Chicago. For example, control cities for I-355 while on I-55 are "West Suburbs" and "Southwest Suburbs". The control city for areas north of I-88 are "Northwest Suburbs".
Because of increasing congestion, the Veterans Memorial Tollway has been widened to eight lanes between 75th Street and US Route 34. The tollway authority added the 4-mile (6.4 km), $60.4 million project to its Congestion Relief Plan in mid 2007, and the new lanes opened on October 24, 2009.
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