Eight years after building began, the Stearns Road bridge and road extension project is still causing headaches for motorists.
Each night during this week, March 30-April 3, the road that carries both Route 25 and Stearns Road for a half mile along the South Elgin-Wayne border will be closed from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. as an Illinois Department of Transportation contractor demolishes the bridge carrying the Union Pacific Railroad’s Belvidere line over the highway. The bridge is located between Gilbert Street and the spot where Stearns and Route 25 separate again, with Stearns heading west toward the new bridge and Route 25 heading south toward Valley View and St. Charles.
Kane County Transportation Director Carol Schoedel said detour signs will be posted that will direct Stearns and Route 25 drivers around the snarl using Dunham Road, Kirk Road, Route 64, Middle Street and Route 25.
The new Stearns Road Bridge and the 4.6-mile extension of Stearns from Route 25 to Randall Road opened In December 2010 after four years of construction. But parts of the project in the area where Stearns, Dunham and 25 come together remained not quite finished until a round of follow-up construction began in that area in April 2014.
The Stearns/25 combination continued to have just one lane in each direction between the Stearns extension and where Route 25 starts using the same roadway as Stearns. The new work is widening that to two lanes plus a turning lane in each direction.
Schoedel explained that the railroad overpass must be replaced because, with the new four-lane roadway underneath taking up more space, the railroad needs a longer overpass.
Contractors also are putting in new traffic signals, a new storm sewer and a road bridge across a creek.
Illinois Department of Transportation officials hope to finish the entire project by Aug. 31.
“Traffic will be restored to normal configurations during the daytime hours of 5:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. each day,” Schoedel said. “The public is asked to avoid the area during this night time/early hours work and to seek alternate routes when possible. Motorists affected by this night work are advised to follow the posted detour, pay attention to the flaggers and exercise caution while traveling near the work area.”
Until they needed to do the railroad work, IDOT engineers have been staging the construction so that one lane can stay open in each direction on each of the roads involved.
