The new interchange at Route 59 and Interstate 88 should open sometime in August.
That update on the massive Route 59 widening project was part of a special public meeting on transportation Thursday night in Aurora sponsored by state Rep. Stephanie Klifowit (D-Oswego).
“We’re making a big push to get the work done before (next) winter so that people have a chance to try it out before the first snow,” said Illinois Department of Transportation resident engineer Jeffrey Washington. “We don’t want you to be driving it for the first time in bad weather.”
Work also is progressing on a $27 million overpass bridge on Route 34 and the Canadian National railroad tracks just west of Frontenac Street in Aurora, Washington reported. The project, which broke ground last spring, is on track to be finished early next year.
Residents, though, were not pleased to hear that official detour signs will only be posted during brief periods when Route 34 will be completely closed for construction.
“Route 34 doesn’t have a suggested detour, so we’re not putting up signs because, if IDOT signs send cars on local roads [for extended periods of time], IDOT has to pay to repair those roads,” Washington explained.
Aurora Public Works Director Ken Schroth also mixed good news and bad news for residents near the Aurora/Naperville border. The city will soon break ground on a project to add 429 parking spaces to the 2,200-space Route 59 Metra station lot, as well as a new traffic signal at the intersection of Station Boulevard and Meridian Lake Drive and improvements to parking lot access points.
The city will use part of a $3 million air pollution mitigation grant from the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning to pay for the work, Schroth said.
“We’re very happy to get that grant so that we can start work this summer,” he asserted.
The bad news is that about 400 existing spaces in the lot will be unavailable during construction, forcing the city to temporarily relocate 400 permit-holding commuters to other public parking areas in southeast Aurora, Schroth said. Officials are looking into a plan to ferry commuters between the station and the remote parking areas on trolleys, he added.
Denise Linke is a freelance reporter
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