After an eight-year wait punctuated by 14-mile detours, motorists this fall could see the opening of the 135th Street bridge connecting the east and west sides of Romeoville, according to Romeoville officials.
“Keep in mind there will be construction, but it will be open,” village engineer Tom Nagle said recently.
The bridge runs over the Des Plaines River, the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal and the historic Illinois & Michigan Canal.
Finishing touches, such as landscaping, will be under way in the fall after the bridge opens, engineer Tim Johnsen said.
The construction process is affected by too many variables, such as weather, to predict an exact date, Nagle said.
The $18 million removal, relocation and replacement of the century-old swing bridge linking U.S. Highway 53 to New Street “took years longer than anybody expected,” Romeoville Mayor Fred Dewald said.
The bridge won’t be only for motorists. A bicycle path is installed along the north side.
“There are people that live here and kids that are now 8 years old who have never seen this,” Dewald said.
Shorter travel times, lighter traffic and more business activity will result from the opening of the new bridge, he said.
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The old bridge, one of two swing bridges left in Illinois, was relocated to the north along the Centennial Trail, where hikers and bicyclists can traverse the historic structure, Romeoville public works director Bill Taylor said. The area underneath the old bridge will be restored as a wetland, Nagle said.