Route 755 bus stops at the Old Chicago Park-n-Ride. (Photo by Igor Studenkov/for Chronicle Media)

Pace suburban bus transit agency is looking to improve its Old Chicago Park-n-Ride facility in Bolingbrook, at 120 E. Old Chicago Dr.

This is one of the several Park-n-Rides Pace built to serve the I-55 commuter express buses, allowing southwest suburban riders to leave their cars in the morning and drive home in the evening. Pace plans to replace a bus shelter with a larger, enclosed passenger waiting area, and expand the bus drive to improve service efficiency.

During its February meeting, Pace Board of Directors approved an architectural and engineering contract with Chicago-based Gannett Fleming Architects to design the improvements. Construction is expected to start in 2026 and wrap up in 2027.

The I-55/Stevenson Expressway corridor bus service stands out from the rest of the Pace network for several reasons. The four routes use larger, coach-style buses that primarily travel along the expressway between the southwest suburbs and Chicago. The buses are allowed to use the shoulder to get past the traffic, and riders pay “premium” fares that are twice the regular Pace bus fares. The buses don’t provide intermediate service, picking up riders from the southwest suburbs and dropping them off in Chicago in the morning, and returning them home in the evening.

Old Chicago Park-n-Ride is currently served by Route 755, which links Plainfield and Bolingbrook to Illinois Medical District, University of Illinois Chicago’s East Campus and Chicago Union Station. While all I-55 routes saw their ridership drop during the pandemic, Route 755 fared better than others, and it is currently the closest to its pre-pandemic numbers. The ridership dipped from around 600 riders a day in 2020 to less than 200 in 2020, and it currently hovers around an average of 550.

The Park-n-Ride is also used as pick up/drop-off point for express services to Soldier Field and Guaranteed Rate field, which only operate on game days. Riders can transfer to regular Pace Route 834, which runs between downtown Joliet and Downers Grove, at the nearby stretch of Bolingbrook Drive.

The facility currently has a single open-air shelter with real-time bus arrival information display. The new passenger waiting area will be fully enclosed, and it would have public restrooms — a rarity for Pace facilities — and Ventra card machines.

Pace is covering the design phase out of its own capital budget. U.S. Rep Bill Forest, D-Naperville, secured a $1.2 million Community Project Funding federal grant to help cover the cost of construction. Pace received another $500,000 from the FTA to cover the rest of the construction costs.

“With a growing population in the suburbs, it’s important that we keep up with the demand for safe and reliable public transportation options — and that’s exactly what Pace’s Bolingbrook Park-n-Ride represents,” he said in a statement. “I was proud to secure $1.2 million in Community Project Funding to support the construction of this new, fully accessible indoor facility. This project will help connect passengers to work, schools, local businesses, and more, and produce positive economic and environmental impacts for the community.”

In a statement to the media, Bolingbrook mayor Mary Alexander-Basta described the project as “a major win for Bolingbrook commuters and our local economy,”

“Enhancing this key transit hub will provide our residents with more convenient, reliable transportation options while supporting businesses and job growth in our community” she stated. “We appreciate Pace’s investment in our village and look forward to the benefits this project will bring.”