Illinois State Police are increasing patrols in the I-57 construction work zones near Mount Vernon ahead of holiday travel, according to the agency's November 12, 2026, announcement.
The agency said its daily focus on that stretch began earlier in November. November 12 is the announcement date, not a newly specified start date for the patrol initiative.
What ISP reported from the first week
During the first week of November, ISP said it issued more than 650 citations and warnings combined, completed more than 80 Motor Carrier Safety Inspections and placed 17 commercial vehicles traveling through the zones out of service. The 650-plus figure is not a count of citations alone.
ISP said the effort brings together Troop 10 Patrol, the Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Bureau and the Special Operations Group. The agency described a high-visibility approach intended to deter speeding and distracted driving and prevent crashes.
Construction measures drivers should know
According to the release, the Illinois Department of Transportation has maintained two lanes in each direction during peak or daytime hours, scheduled some of the more disruptive work for off-peak hours, reduced speed limits and added lane markings to guide traffic. Those are agency-reported project measures, not a guarantee that lane availability will remain unchanged throughout a trip.
ISP said construction in the two work zones near Mount Vernon will continue until June and October 2027. It also reported that half of the crashes it handled in Jefferson County last year occurred in a work zone; that is an ISP-handled crash figure, not a count of every crash in the county.
Leave time and space for the work zones
The agency advises drivers to allow extra travel time, reduce speed, avoid tailgating and pay attention to the road. Its stated goals for the patrol effort include getting drivers to keep a safe following distance, move over and stop distracted driving.
Source: Illinois State Police release, November 12, 2026. The enforcement totals and construction measures above are attributed to that release, not independently audited results or live road-condition information.
Archive/context image: I-57/I-70 interchange southwest of Effingham in 1963; not the current work zones near Mount Vernon. Photo: Federal Highway Administration via Wikimedia Commons, public domain. Wikimedia file previously cropped; further cropped, resized and archive-labeled by ThinBlueNews. Original photograph and public-domain rights information.
