Photos: New Houbolt Road Truck Toll Bridge Groundbreaking

JOLIET, IL — People constantly complain that there are too many semi-trailers on Joliet's roads, but that number is about to be reduced thanks to the construction of a new 1.5 mile-long Houbolt Road extension and toll bridge over the Des Plaines River.

On Tuesday morning, Joliet Mayor Bob O'Dekirk; Will County Executive Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant; Doug Witt, president of United Bridge Partners; and Michael Murphy, chief development officer with CenterPoint Properties; addressed a crowd at the groundbreaking ceremony.

High-ranking officials with the Illinois Department of Transportation were also on hand. The new four-lane bridge over the Des Plaines River is slated to be done in the spring of 2023. It's a privately financed project between United Bridge Partners and CenterPoint Properties.

"The Houbolt Road Extension will leverage the industry's growth and invest in the community's quality of life. The new route provides a more direct path for trucks to access I-80, taking traffic off Route 53 and local roadways," a marketing flyer proclaims.

"Well, as a community, it shows how we can work together with other entities including the county and the state and the unions, and everyone has come together to make sure this project has come to fruition," Joliet City Councilwoman Jan Quillman told Joliet Patch at the event. "I was on the Council when this was first thought of as just a dream, and now it's happening.

"And like they said, Larry Walsh Sr. was instrumental in helping get this moving. But it's really something that's needed to take care of some of the traffic because we are the largest inland port in the world," Quillman said.

"If we don't build something to help with the truck traffic, it's going to get worse," she said. "Because, the trucks are going to come if we do nothing, and if we do something, it will help alleviate a lot of the traffic."