May 12, 2021
Employee spotlight:
Region 1 Engineer Jose Rios
 
Born in New Jersey to Puerto Rican parents, Jose spent his latter teenage years and early adult years in Puerto Rico. He served six years in the Air National Guard after completing high school and later earned an associate degree in electronics and a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the University of Puerto Rico.
 
Jose joined IDOT 21 years ago in the Region 1 office and has remained there throughout his career. Prior to becoming Region 1 engineer, he has served as in-house preparation engineer at the Bureau of Design, engineer of program development, acting land acquisition engineer, bureau chief of land acquisition, and engineer of operations.
 
His appointment made him the first Latino regional engineer at IDOT.
 
Read more about Jose’s thoughts about his job and life outside of IDOT.
IDOT 101: How IDOT Protects Pollinators
The weather is warming and monarch butterflies, our state insect, are on the move. We continue to implement a pollinator friendly, roadside mowing policy and as we celebrate Monarch Month in May it’s especially important to highlight our efforts.
 
Check out this video to see how we are helping the Monarch butterfly and other pollinators.
Districts 5, 7, 8 and 9 did some heavy lifting in March with helping transport oversize and overweight loads across much of southeastern Illinois.
 
A 16-foot-wide, 226-foot-long and 17-foot-tall oil refinery vessel weighing 440,000 pounds from Mississippi traveled through Districts 8 and 9 to arrive at the Phillips 66 Refinery near Roxana in the Metro East. The large load required coordination between the districts, Illinois State Police, Sterett Heavy Hauling and Phillips 66.
 
IDOT also coordinated the transport of a 21-foot-wide, 205-foot-long and nearly 16-foot-tall boiler weighing 494,000 pounds that passed through Illinois to Indiana. The load entered the state in District 9 from Missouri and traveled through Districts 7 and 5 before entering Indiana.
District 3 began the process is underway to permanently remove the Nettle Creek Road bridge over Interstate 80 in Grundy County by holding a virtual public hearing on May 5. The bridge is located about 1 mile west of the Seneca interchange (Exit 105).
 
The proposed project includes permanent removal of the bridge and building cul-de-sacs on Nettle Creek Road. Resurfacing improvements will be performed on Morey Road and Seneca Road north of the interchange, and intersections will be improved as necessary.
 
A recording of the virtual hearing, exhibits, maps, and plans will be available for review on the project website. Comments received by Wednesday, May 19 will be made part of the public record and considered as the preliminary engineering study is finalized.
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