Traffic through downtown Naperville is on course for considerable slowdown in the 2016 construction season.
Bob Kozurek, engineering services manager for the city, said the bridge that takes Washington Street over the West Branch of the DuPage River dates from the 1920s. Other than an overlay treatment in 2004 that was expected to extend its life by about 15 years, the bridge hasn’t had much attention since it was widened in the 1970s.
“We’re just about there,” Kozurek said. “We routinely inspect the bridges, and this bridge is due for some reconstruction.”
Once the project begins next year, Washington is expected to be limited to one lane in each direction through the construction zone.
Kozurek said the engineering work that comes first will be covered through federal assistance sufficient to pay 80 percent of that cost.
More Top Picks Best Guitar Pedalboards
“It’s a critical bridge in downtown, it’s a critical bridge in Naperville, so we programmed the engineering for this year, to get started on that,” he said.
Federal funding may help pay for the rest of the new bridge as well. According to Bill Novack, head of the city’s Transportation, Engineering and Development department, the total cost of the project is estimated at $7.71 million, of which Naperville would pay $2.37 million.
“The reason the (local) share is higher than 20 percent is due to the land acquisition cost,” which the federal government doesn’t cover, Novack said in an email that noted the numbers are very preliminary.
Although the bridge funding would be a great shot in the arm for the city, Novack said the federal money doesn’t come without strings attached. Specific guidelines must be met if the city accepts the funds for the construction phase, and the target area is a tight spot.
“The biggest issue is they look at capacity of the roadway and the bridge, and based on the traffic that we pump through Washington Street, we will need to add lanes, probably at the adjacent intersections, Aurora and Chicago Avenues, so we have to study those,” Novack said. “We don’t have much real estate to work with out there, so we will probably have to go and seek some variances with the Federal Highway Administration in order to build something we can digest and that all our neighbors can live with.”
Noting that the bridge is positioned at a gateway into the downtown, council member Paul Hinterlong wanted assurance that the new span will be aesthetically appealing.
“I would rather see a Main Street bridge, rather than an Eagle Street bridge,” said Hinterlong, alluding to the two spans west of Washington, and adding that he’s seen other river towns focus extra spending on attractive bridge designs. “I think it will be money well spent.”
The engineering phase, Novack said, will help establish whether that can be done. It also will provide a better idea of whether federal money will be a feasible source of funds for the project.
“We’ll go to bat, and if it gets real bad and real nasty, we may end up having to say we’re not going to take advantage of that program and just … put back something similar in size, but make it look much nicer,” he said. “We’ll have a lot of discussion with the City Council about this over the next year or two.”
However the final design looks, Novack cautioned that for a while, the construction zone will be “very trying” for drivers who need to navigate that segment of the main downtown roadway.
“It’s going to be very challenging,” he said.
Twitter @scarlman