Pace and IDOT built special bus-only lanes that split off from the main highway near the I-90/Barrington Road Park-n-Ride station. (Photo by Igor Studenkov/for Chronicle Media)

It is unlike any bus facility the Chicago area has ever seen.

At the new I-90/Barrington Road Park-n-Ride station, the buses don’t get off the highway and stop at the nearby parking lot. Instead, the buses drop off and pick up passengers on the sides of the highway itself, from the low-level platforms built alongside the special lanes built on the sides.

An overhead bridge lets passengers cross over the highway, letting them take advantage of either a 170-space parking lot and bike racks on the north, or the bus stop on the south.

The Park-n-Ride is part of the last phase in the series of public transit improvements along the Jane Addams Memorial Tollway portion of I-90. The phase also included launching local Pace bus route 612 to serve the portion of Hoffman Estates south of the highway during rush hour, as well as Hoffman Estates on-demand bus service to provide public transit during the midday. Together, these and other changes are designed to improve public transit options along the Tollway, especially for workplace commuters heading both to Chicago and the suburbs.

The service changes took effect on Aug. 13. For the most part, the new facilities were completed, though the one missing piece is the new kiss-n-ride circle that is expected to be built over the next few months south of the station.

Over the past decade, Pace has been working with the Illinois Department of Transportation and Illinois State Toll Highway Authority to improve and expand service along the Jane Addams Memorial Tollway. When the tollway was widened, IDOT put in “flex lanes” that buses could use to get around traffic when it slows down. Pace built two new Park-n-Ride facilities — one at Randall Road and one at Dundee Road portion of IL 25 — where passengers could park their cars during the day and board the buses at the same parking lot.

Over the past three years, Pace expanded service on the existing Route 600, launched several new express routes to serve the newly built Park-n-Rides and major transit centers in Rosemont, Elgin and Schaumburg, and introduced several new local routes to serve the surrounding suburbs.

An Elgin-bound Route 603 Pace bus stops at the north platform of the new I-90/Barrington Road Park-n-Ride station. (Photo by Igor Studenkov/for Chronicle Media)

I-90/Barrington Road station was built in Hoffman Estates, directly east of Barrington Road, alongside the on ramps that connect the road and the highway. Pace previously operated a rush-hour only Route 557 between the area and Union Pacific Northwest Metra Line’s Barrington station, but it was discontinued in 2012 due to low ridership.

The concept of putting a transit station on a highway isn’t new — Minneapolis’ I-35W & 46th Street Station, uses a similar concept, except the bus-only lanes are in the middle of a highway rather than on the sides. But this is the first time such a station was built in Illinois.

The entire station is accessible to people with disabilities — the platforms have tactile edges, and overhead bridge entrances have both elevators and stairs. The entrances can also double as shelters for waiting passengers during increment weather.

Pace spokesperson Maggie Daly Skogsbakken noted that the station isn’t quite finished. Light fixtures need to be added along the south underpass tunnel. More significantly, the kiss-n-ride loop, where drivers will be able to pick up and drop off passengers, would still need to be built on the south side.

Express routes 603,305, 607 and 610 all stop at the station. The first three routes are once every half-hour during weekday rush hours and once every hour during off-peak hours and Saturdays. Route 610 is rush hour only, with buses traveling between Rosemont Transit Center and corporate locations west of Barrington Roads. It should be noted that, in many instances, the routes overlap — Routes 603, 605 and 610 all run between the Barrington Road station and Rosemont Transit Center, while routes 605 and 607 both run between Barrington Road and Randall Road Park-n-Ride, and Route 603, 605 and 607 all run between IL 25 and Barrington Road stations.

Nancy Bolton, Mike Bolton’s widow, gets off the Pace express bus. During the grand opening of I-90/Barrington Road Park-n-Ride station, Bolton’s family and local elected officials got a chance to take a special trip on a Pace express bus to get a sense of how it usually runs. (Photo by Igor Studenkov/for Chronicle Media)

This means that, for example, passengers heading from Barrington Road to Rosemont Transit Center will be able to catch a bus once every 15 minutes during rush hour, and once every 27-33 minutes during midday and evenings. To help riders catch whichever bus gets them to their destination sooner, Pace put up live bus tracker information on screens located at the top of the bridge entrances, and riders standing on the platform can text the bus stop number listed on the signs.

Pace also launched two brand-new services. Route 612 connects the Barrington station to offices, apartment complexes and St. Alexius Medical Center south of the highway during rush hours. Hoffman Estates on Demand service works similar to other call-n-ride on-demand services. It will pick up and drop off riders anywhere within its service area — in this case, the section of Hoffman Estates bond by Jane Addams Memorial Tollway in the north, Barrington Road in the east, Bade Road in the south and Roselle Road in the east. It is designed to provide public transit when Route 612 isn’t running — between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. Riders can reserve the trips online (at pacebus.com/ondemand ), over the phone at 224-323-3998, or by simply catching the bus when it stops near the Barrington Road station’s south entrance.

The bus stops for these services are currently located at Pembroke Avenue, east of the area where kiss-n-ride will be built. Daly Skogsbakken said that, once the construction is finished, the bus stops will be moved there, and they will get more permanent bus shelters.

The Barrington Road station officially opened on Aug. 13, but it wasn’t until Aug. 21 that Pace and other agencies involved held a grand opening on the overhead bridge.

Richard Kwasneski, the Chair of the Pace Board of Directors, said that improving public transit along Jane Addams Memorial Tollway was vital, because, by 2040, the area is projected to have as many jobs as downtown Chicago.

“[Pace is] very excited to provide service which is fast, frequent and reliable,” he said. “And frankly, we believe this [station] is the future of public transportation.”

Pace officials and Mike Bolton’s family stand as the plaque honoring Bolton is unveiled. (Photo by Igor Studenkov/for Chronicle Media)

Illinois Tollway chairman Bob Schillerstorm that both public transit and car-orientated improvements benefit the entire region.

“It expands access to employment, and it helps foster economic development in the entire region,” he said. “Today, we’re seeing the result of what can be accomplished for our customers through a shared vision.”

U.S. Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Schaumburg) was impressed with the station saying that he “never had a press conference at a venue where traffic is coming and going.”

“It’s an amazing, amazing example of what happens when people from different communities, different governments cooperate with each other and use resources for common good,” he added.

Hoffman Estates mayor William McLeod noted that plans for providing faster public transit service have been floating since the 1990s, and he was pleased with what actually wound up becoming reality.

“We need to be able to move people to their jobs, to their homes, and this is going to [able to] move people,” he said, adding that he agreed with Krishnamoorthi about the view.

The grand opening ended on a reflective note. In an unusual step, Pace put in a plaque honoring Michael Bolton, the transit agency’s former Deputy Executive Director of Strategic Services, who died after battling pancreatic cancer on April 15, 2017.

Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi praises the new I-90/Barrington Road Park-n-Ride during the press conference at the station’s overhead bridge. (Photo by Igor Studenkov/for Chronicle Media)

Tom Marcucci, who represents DuPage County on the Pace Board of Directors, said that Bolton’s vision was instrumental toward making the 1-90 improvements happen. Marcucci specifically recalled that, when Bolton first proposed Barrington Road station’s unique design, he wondered if that was even possible.

“You are standing here on the result of his great vision,” he said. “This is his big idea come to life.”

Bolton’s daughter, Joanna Lynch, was one of the several members who was there to see the plaque’s unveiling. She told the Chronicle that he was a “big man” in terms of both his physical size, his larger-than-life presence and his vision.

“Traffic was an issue, and he was thoughtful about how to solve the traffic problem,” Lynch said. “He led by example, and I think he meant a lot to the people he worked with.”

She described her father’s life as a classic example of an American dream — an immigrant from Ireland who started out small and eventually worked his way up to bigger opportunities.

“It’s pretty cool, for someone who started out as an English teacher by day and a [CTA] bus driver by night, to have an overpass dedicated to him,” Lynch said.

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—- Pace opens one of a kind station at Jane Addams Tollway —