All eastbound lanes of Interstate 88, the Reagan Memorial Tollway, were shut down in Aurora, Illinois, early on Thursday, November 12, 2026, after a rollover crash involving a semi truck and an SUV, according to traffic officials and Chicago-area broadcast reports.

Source: Chicago Focal, Nov. 12, 2026

The crash happened during the 2 a.m. hour in the eastbound lanes between Eola Road and Route 59. A detour was set up at Eola Road, and drivers heading toward Naperville had no access to the eastbound tollway through the closed stretch. Traffic reporter Kye Martin described it as a "major commuter alert for the western suburbs," and officials warned that heavy traffic and significant backups were expected as the morning rush unfolded.

Source: WGN-TV and CBS 2 Chicago morning traffic reports, Nov. 12, 2026

Images from the scene showed the rolled-over semi resting in the far left lane and shoulder, surrounded by multiple emergency vehicles and firefighters. A damaged passenger vehicle was also visible, with its rear end smashed and airbags deployed, and traffic cameras captured a long line of brake lights backing up toward the crash site in the eastbound lanes.

What officials have — and have not — said

In the early reporting on Thursday morning, it was not immediately clear whether anyone was injured in the collision, and no official cause had been given. No reopening time had been announced in the initial reports either. Drivers were urged to avoid the area and seek alternate routes while crews worked to clear the scene. An overturned semi typically takes hours to upright and remove, which is why full closures after rollover crashes often stretch well past the first reports.

A hard morning across the western suburbs

The I-88 closure was not the only problem on western-suburb roads on Thursday morning. Traffic officials were also dealing with a crash on Interstate 80 in Joliet that blocked some westbound lanes, and with continued street closures in downtown Aurora following a building collapse on Wednesday night that sent debris into the street. For commuters driving in from Aurora, Naperville and the surrounding suburbs, the combination meant few easy alternatives to the closed tollway.

The same stretch of I-88 is already a work zone

The closed segment is also an active construction area. In a release dated October 29, 2026, the Illinois Tollway said long-term shoulder closures and traffic shifts are scheduled through November and beyond for repair work on the Canadian National Railway bridge over I-88 in Aurora, including overnight lane closures in both directions between Eola Road and Illinois Route 59 to prepare for a traffic shift. The bridge repair work — needed after the bridge was struck by a vehicle — is expected to continue into 2027.

Source: Illinois Tollway release, Oct. 29, 2026

Why it matters for truckers and commuters

I-88 is one of the Chicago region's main east-west freight routes, linking the western suburbs with the city and carrying heavy truck traffic toward Iowa and the Quad Cities. A full eastbound closure in the pre-dawn hours hits the earliest freight runs of the day as well as the morning commute, and a detour at Eola Road pushes tollway traffic onto suburban surface streets that are not built for semi volumes. Punjabi truck drivers running Chicago-area routes are among those who plan their mornings around this corridor.

What happens next

Crews were working to clear the scene on Thursday morning, and the eastbound lanes were expected to reopen once the semi was removed and the roadway was checked — but no official reopening time had been published in the early reports. The cause of the crash, and whether anyone was hurt, will come from the responding agencies as the investigation continues. Drivers heading east from Aurora should check current Illinois Tollway and Illinois State Police updates before travelling, because conditions on I-88 can change quickly after a closure of this size.