a permanent concrete median and wide shoulders. Hillside Strangler: Named after the Chicago suburb of Hillside, it refers to a major merge with I-88, and almost always is used when referring to inbound (eastbound) traffic. It is at this point that I-88 terminates eastbound. It was called the Strangler because, before its reconstruction in the early 2000s, seven throughlanes were forced to merge to three, creating large backups. Reconstruction widened part of this area to nine lanes (five inbound; three through; two local; and four through outbound). This allowed direct exits to Mannheim Road (US 12/US 20/US 45) from I-88, the ramp also serving for an I-88 truck access to eastbound I-290; created an inbound collector–distributor ramp for Mannheim Road; and added a timed gate that closed a ramp from Roosevelt Road (IL 38) to inbound I-290 during the afternoon rush hours. These improvements helped congestion at the site, but they also pushed preexisting congestion further east to the six-lane portion of the highway. The Hillside Strangler is located at about milemarker 18. The Avenues: The portion of the highway between Mannheim Road at milemarker 17 and First Avenue in Maywood, a stretch of . Named because all of the crossroads between these two exits are named numerically, in ascending order traveling outbound (westbound). 1st Avenue (IL 171) is exit 20. There are exits to 9th, 17th, and 25th avenues to the west. These exits are spaced about apart. This stretch is notorious for being very congested. Eisenhower Extension or 290 Extension: The of road between current-day milemarker 7 (I-355 south to US 20/Lake Street) and North Avenue (IL 64), milemarker 15. This section was built in the late 1970s. Jane Byrne Interchange: The eastern terminus of I-290 where it meets I-90/I-94, which overlap through Chicago. North of this interchange I-90/I- 94 is called the Kennedy Expressway, while south of it I-90/I-94 is called the Dan Ryan Expressway. The interchange itself consists of eight heavily used, very tight ramps that wind around each other, giving the interchange a distinct circle shape when looked at from above. This design, adequate when first built in the 1950s, forces drivers to slow down to speeds of about due to its tightly wound curves. Not only does this led to the worst congestion in the Chicago area, a 2010 study of freight congestion (truck speed and travel time) by the Federal Highway Administration ranked