The city would plan to pass $58 million in general obligation bonds for that money. The city and Penn Entertainment have a redevelopment agreement that has the city giving the land and donating $50 million to the casino, which it will pay back. “That work out there will help everything,” said Ald. Witkowski said roads are not designed for specific events - such as a Black Friday sale crowd at the Chicago Premium Outlets mall or even overall holiday traffic - but that the roads there would handle much greater traffic capacity. William Donnell, 4th Ward, a committee member, said the city still is negotiating with the Illinois Toll Highway Authority on how the interchange with I-88 might be changed, and that could include a second exit lane from the tollway that would go directly into the outlet mall road.

Witkowski, responding to questions from Ald. “We would look at substantial completion (of road work) by 2025, before the casino is ready to open its doors,” he said.

Some already have been modernized, Witkowski said. Overall, he said HR Green looked at 10 intersections in the area and is already planning on modernization on some. The city would plan to expand Bilter Road from its current two lanes to four lanes, and eventually expand Farnsworth Avenue to six lanes, three in each direction, between Butterfield Road and I-88.

Penn Entertainment hired Chicago-based Langan to do a traffic study of the area around the new casino resort, and the city of Aurora hired HR Green, a national engineering firm with an Aurora office, to review Langan’s study.īrian Witkowski, of the city’s engineering division, said the study was done of all traffic needs in the area - not just what the casino would generate - out to the year 2050. Moore said Hollywood is likely to double its current number of permanent jobs from 350 to 700 people, and Carroll said the project should create an estimated 700 construction jobs.

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