History
Emergency Traffic Patrol
In late 1960, the Illinois
Department of Transportation made a decision to open a
segment of the Congress Street Expressway in Chicago to
traffic despite the fact that construction was not fully
completed. In one location, the drop off from the
pavement to the shoulder was about 8 inches. Since the
shoulder was not available for disabled vehicles, they
would remain in the traffic lanes and create significant
traffic jams.
To address this situation, a small number of vans and
trucks were assigned to patrol the area – the original
Emergency Traffic Patrol. They were simply equipped with
radiotelephones, extra warning lights, road flares,
barricades, push bumpers and tanks of compressed air.
Upon encountering a disabled vehicle or accident scene,
the Emergency Traffic Patrol would push the vehicle/s
from the roadway or remain to protect the scene until a
private tow truck and law enforcement arrived. The
program was an immediate success generating hundreds of
complimentary letters to the Department.
Early in 1961, a proposal was made by Illinois State
Highway officials to make the program permanent and
expand it to other heavily traveled parts of the Chicago
expressway network.
The program became so successful in the Chicago area
that IDOT decided to create another patrol in southern
Illinois. This patrol began operation in January of 1968
and covered Interstate 55/70 from the interchange in
Troy to the Poplar Street Bridge in St. Louis.
Today the Illinois Department of Transportation
continues to provide the Emergency Traffic Patrol to
motorists traveling within the same two areas; however,
these areas have been greatly expanded as has the fleet
of Emergency Patrol Vehicles.
Please see the “COVERAGE
AREA” portion of this site for further coverage
information.
