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Illinois Tollway Authority
Consu l t i ng and Tes t i ng Ser v i ces
1956
While working as a researcher for the Portland Cement Association, Jack Janney was offered the opportunity to serve as an engineering consultant for
the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority. The Tollway Authority urgently needed engineering expertise for construction of the first phase of the Tri-State
and Northwest tollways, and Janney was one of only a handful of engineers in the field with research experience in prestressed concrete.
Janney accepted the offer and founded Janney and Associates, a one-man engineering firm initially operating out of his apartment in Glenview,
Illinois. His work with the Illinois Tollway Authority involved many of the special services that would become trademarks of the firm: refining
state-of-the-art designs and troubleshooting construction and fabrication problems, as well as modeling, instrumentation, and load testing.
Notes of Interest
• Some of the original strain gages and wiring installed
on the Beverly Road Bridge for testing and instrumentation
are still visible today.
• Much of the field testing was performed at night to
minimize the effect of temperature changes upon the
strain measurements.
• Jack Janney employed a number of moonlighters from
the Portland Cement Association, including Dick Elstner,
to help him with the instrumentation and field testing.
WJE 50 Years
The Bureau of Public Roads and the Illinois State Highway Department were demanding that the
Tollway engineers prove that their design concepts were sound—that’s what we did. – Jack Janney
Significant for many reasons, but mostly as the genesis of WJE – Harry Hunderman
It is noteworthy that, after fifty years, we are still doing interesting work for the
Tollway Authority. – Gary Klein
The first, and the most significant, because it represents the essence of WJE – John Hanson