Homewood’s Dixie Highway viaduct, a major entry into downtown, will be closed for 90 days for repair work starting on June 8, the village announced this week.
Construction is anticipated to begin on June 1 and continue through October, the village said. The Illinois Department of Transportation, which is responsible for maintaining the highway, is in charge of the project.
Recommended detour routes will be shared by Monday, the village said on its social media.
The viaduct repairs were originally scheduled to begin in 2027, but the schedule was moved up due to repeated issues with flooding.
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Homewood Public Works Director Joshua Burman previously told the Daily Southtown that the viaduct frequently had to be closed following heavy rain.
“This is long overdue with all the flooding that we’ve been having at the north viaduct,” Burman said. “Pretty much any time we have any type of significant rain, I have staff out there or the Police Department is out there and we’re closing it down until the storm has passed and the water’s receded.”
Some of the viaduct’s drainage infrastructure is failed or failing, leading to the flooding problems, according to Burman.
Most recently, the viaduct flooded and was closed to all traffic for multiple hours May 18 following a storm, according to an alert shared on the village’s social media.
Construction will be carried out by contractor Iroquois Paving of Watseka, the village said.
Documents available from IDOT say the project will affect Dixie Highway from Sycamore Drive, near Balagio Ristorante, to Harwood Avenue, which is just past the viaduct.
In addition to addressing the flooding issues, which is the main goal of the project, the affected span of highway is planned to be resurfaced, and the span between Balagio Ristorante and the viaduct will be reduced from two lanes going each direction down to one lane going each direction, plus a central turn lane.
The traffic flow under the viaduct itself, which is already one lane in either direction, is not planned to change.
Many residents have asked about the possibility of adding traffic mirrors to the viaduct as part of the project. However, Burman has said that is unlikely because adding mirrors risks creating new hazards with glare.
Another change residents have expressed interest in is crosswalk improvements, Burman said, but that is not part of the plan for the project.
The Dixie Highway viaduct is not the only south suburbs viaduct to be plagued by frequent closures. The viaduct crossing Vollmer Road, which separates nearby Flossmoor from Olympia Fields, is frequently blocked due to collisions from over-height trucks.