The final piece of the reconfigured Naperville Road interchange on the Reagan Memorial Tollway will open to traffic by mid-day Thursday, Illinois Tollway and DuPage County officials announced Wednesday.

The new Freedom Drive connector road was constructed to provide access to Diehl Road on the south and Warrenville Road on the north, and to relieve congestion on Naperville Road. The change is part of a larger traffic solution promoted by DuPage County to improve travel for drivers in the area, which is heavily-used by commuters.

The interchange improvements are part of a project to rebuild and widen the Reagan Memorial Tollway that was recently completed between Washington Street and Finley Road. This is one component of the Tollway’s $6.3-billion congestion relief program.

In addition to coordinating construction of the local improvements with the Tollway, DuPage County committed to funding about $50 million in cash and in-kind contributions — nearly half of the cost of the interchange and related local improvements.

The Tollway has been the lead agency on the reconstruction of the interchange, which began in 2006. DuPage County was responsible for the local roadway improvements, including right-of-way costs as well as engineering and construction of the new connector road needed to access the reconfigured interchange. DuPage County is also sharing construction costs with the Tollway for the reconfigured ramps.