Replacing the 135th Street bridge, once expected to be a $14 million task, looks more like a $20 million project, Romeoville officials have learned.
But for a village that has had to tighten its financial belt almost to the breaking point, there is no money. In regards to the bridge, officials complain that they have become victims of a familiar municipal predicament: state government mandates without any extra money to pay for them.
The 135th Street bridge crosses the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal and links the eastern portion of Romeoville to the rest of the village. Plans call for moving and preserving the 93-year-old structure, which is one of three swing bridges left in Illinois, and building a high-level bridge in its place.
The original cost included only the new bridge, but a year ago, the Illinois Department of Transportation and the federal government decided the 3,500-foot length of the project was inadequate.
Because 135th Street may be widened to four lanes and carry 19,000 cars a day, governmental officials said the project should connect two north-south streets and be extended to 10,200 feet.
But the additional mandates also must be accompanied by a large number of environmental and engineering studies, all of which add to the project’s cost.
“This thing just keeps growing and growing,” said trustee Dan Peterek. “Who’s going to pay for this? We’re just trying to cross a canal.”
The old bridge has been closed since 1990, when it was declared unsafe by the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District. Since then, motorists have clogged alternate routes, creating headaches for Romeoville’s neighbors.
To conduct the additional studies, the Village Board added $188,000 to its agreement with the South Holland company hired to plan the bridge.
William Santacruz, a senior vice president of Robinson Engineering Ltd., said construction of the bridge could start by the end of next year and be completed by late 1995.
Because the old bridge has been deemed historic, it must be preserved, although it cannot remain where it is.
The village also must include an 8-foot wide pedestrian and bicycle path along the north side of the old bridge, which may become part of the proposed 27-mile Centennial Trail. That path is expected to add nearly $2 million to the project’s cost.
