Homewood’s Dixie Highway viaduct will be closed beginning Sept. 22 for an Illinois Department of Transportation flood mitigation and resurfacing project that was previously set to begin in June, according to a village announcement.
The viaduct will be fully closed for a minimum of 90 days, the village said. Homewood previously announced that the closure period would begin June 8, but that did not happen, with village officials citing related utility work that needed to be completed first.
“While the temporary closure will be inconvenient for many motorists and commuters, this project is expected to provide a long-term solution to flooding under the viaduct and to improve roadway safety, drainage performance and overall reliability once construction is complete,” the village said in its statement.
In addition to work on the viaduct, the project will include new pavement and updated traffic patterns from Spruce Road to Park Avenue, the village statement said.
A graphic shared by the village showed planned detour routes. Southbound travelers would turn right off Dixie Highway onto 175th Street, drive south on Governors Highway, and ultimately turn left onto 183rd Street. Northbound travelers were directed to turn right off Dixie Highway onto Ridge Road, then right onto Ashland Avenue, and finally left onto 171st Street.
Flooding under the viaduct has been a perennial problem, but the issue has become particularly acute given the multiple major storms that have struck Homewood in recent months.
The village was struck by two EF-1 tornadoes this summer, on July 27 and Aug. 11, with both storms flooding the viaduct and rendering it temporarily impassable.
More Top Picks Best Neck And Shoulder Massagers
The timeline for the project was originally set to begin next year in 2027, but was accelerated after IDOT determined the drainage issues needed to be addressed sooner to help reduce repeated flooding, the village said.
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.”