Joliet I-80 work back this weekend

Weekend work on Interstate 80 in Joliet will be in westbound lanes this weekend, and a second Richards Street ramp is scheduled for closure on Monday.

The Illinois Department of Transportation closure is the sixth of eight weekends scheduled for I-80 road repairs.

Westbound traffic through Joliet is will be reduced to one lane between Raynor Avenue and Center Street starting at 10 p.m. Thursday.

All lanes will not be closed for westbound traffic. However, the I-80 westbound exit and entrance ramps at Chicago Street will be closed.

The scheduled reopening of all westbound lanes is 5 a.m. Monday.

Crews have completed the work early on some weekends, and eastbound lanes were reopened on Saturday night last weekend.

IDOT spokesman, Maria Castaneda, said however, lanes will be reopened sometime Sunday “at the earliest. It may even go into that 5 a.m. Monday time.”

On Monday, IDOT will close the Richards Street ramp onto eastbound I-80 for a reconstruction project expected to be completed in late fall. The eastbound ramp onto Richards Street already has been closed until late fall.