The Cook County Department of Transportation and Highways has proposed a project to increase the clearance at the Vollmer Road viaduct under the Canadian National tracks in Olympia Fields, which for decades has been plagued by collisions and jams caused by over-height trucks.
The clearance on the viaduct is 11 feet, 9 inches, substantially less than the maximum legal height for vehicles in Illinois, which is 13 feet, 6 inches, meaning many semitrailers are more than a foot too tall to fit under the viaduct.
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The low clearance is clearly and repeatedly labeled with signs on the approach from both directions, but that has not stopped trucks from trying to travel through the viaduct, frequently getting stuck and causing road closures.
“Trucks are already trying to go here. They’re trying to use it even though there’s all the signs,” said Jeff Young, of design firm HDR. “At the end of the day what we’re trying to accomplish is preventing crashes and disruptions to the public.”
The county’s proposal is to lower Vollmer Road where it passes under the viaduct by three feet, increasing the clearance to 14 feet, 9 inches, in addition to storm sewer improvements and new pavement.
The viaduct carries trains over Vollmer Road between Kedzie and Western avenues. The affected stretch of road borders Flossmoor on one side and Olympia Fields on the other, while the road itself is managed by the county.
“It’s more of a safety issue that was really brought to our attention,” said county civil engineer Katie Bell. “Whether it’s a near miss of a truck at the viaduct, or a truck getting stuck and all that, it’s tying up a lot of police and emergency services resources for the villages.”
The county held an open house Tuesday at Flossmoor Village Hall to introduce the project to residents and gather feedback. The next step will be a preliminary engineering study tentatively scheduled for spring 2027. According to materials presented by the county, construction is not likely to start until 2030, dependent on funding.
“I know it’s been like this for 30 years,” said county engineering manager Sanjay Joshi. “Original plans had talked about widening the roadway and reconstructing the bridge, but we knew that would take like 20 years, so we’re like, what can we do faster?”
Some residents asked why the county didn’t just ban trucks from the road entirely to solve the problem, but Joshi said that the county isn’t able to do that on the roads it manages.
“We’ve made this a priority for looking for money, so we really want to get it done,” Joshi said.
Young said the project wouldn’t cost residents anything.
“They’re not looking to raise any taxes,” Young said. “They’re looking to do it through existing funding.”
The issue of truck strikes at the viaduct occupies time and resources for both the Flossmoor Police Department and the Olympia Fields Police Department, both of which are responsible for closing the road, directing traffic and coordinating vehicle removals when crashes occur.
“We have to use manpower to get those trucks turned around,” said Olympia Fields police Chief Derrick Blasingame. “That viaduct probably gets hit three or four times a month, we gotta shut the whole road down, we gotta call the tow truck company out to clean up the debris.”
According to the county, crashes and stuck vehicles at the viaduct have triggered over 1,000 police calls since 2019.
“Finally getting something done is huge,” Blasingame said.
Flossmoor resident Kathy Hillegonds lives near the viaduct and regularly has to navigate major traffic backups caused by crashes, she said.
“We’ve been dealing with it forever,” Hillegonds said. “The other day I got stuck right here, it was at a standstill.”
She said she felt the issue had gotten noticeably worse since the 2021 opening of the Amazon facility located at 7001 Vollmer Road in Matteson.
Hillegonds said she was in favor of the proposed plan, but felt frustrated by the county’s multi-year timeline and wanted to see something else done to prevent over-height trucks hitting the viaduct in the meantime.
“That’s awesome, do it, whatever, God bless you,” Hillegonds said. “But in the meantime, we’re talking about three more years.”
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Resident Steve Schurch, however, said he was opposed to a plan that could potentially increase truck traffic on the already-busy road.
He suggested that instead, the county should double down on preventing over-height vehicles from attempting to traverse the viaduct.
“Put something across there, a beam or whatever, anything touches it, sirens, lights go off,” Schurch said. “If the person still goes through, guess what, you lose your vehicle. That would be a lot cheaper and less hassle and less traffic than this.”