How To Properly Navigate The I-39 Ramp Construction.

Summer in Illinois means one thing: Construction

This summer the big project is the I-39 interchange and it is causing some headaches.

Matt Rodewald of WTVO broke it all down in the video below but I'll try to give you the Cliffs Notes on what he found out.

What people have done for quite awhile now is take the fly-over ramp to get onto I-39 South. They are working on the ramp and it is too narrow to leave open while construction is going on so drivers have to take the unfamiliar Rt. 20 exit and later merge onto I-39. Many drivers miss this alternate exit and are forced to drive a ways down to the Alpine exit, take 2 ramps to reverse direction and then get on I-39 South. That is now a problem because they are working on the Alpine exit and it is closed. That means that drivers have to go all the way to the 251 exit to pull the 2 ramp reverse direction maneuver.  All this is probably a 30 minute detour if you miss the initial alternate exit.

My advice would be to take the back roads all the way to Baxter Road and hop on 39 from there. It's a nice drive in the country and you could avoid a lot of headaches.

If you need a visual on everything that's happening watch Matt's report on the WTVO website here.