The viaduct that carries trains over Dixie Highway, a primary route in and out of downtown Homewood, closed to traffic Monday for what is planned to be a minimum of 90 days while the Illinois Department of Transportation carries out repairs and resurfacing, as well as configuring it to better withstand frequent flooding that has caused it to be closed after storms, according to village officials.
The planned closure was first announced in spring, but was repeatedly pushed back. 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.
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It was delayed for a final time when an announced closure date last week was pushed to Monday due to delays from the contractor, according to the village. The village poked fun at the multiple delays in a social media video where Public Works Director Joshua Burman held up a series of signs in front of the viaduct.
“The Dixie Highway Viaduct project will restart Monday, Sept. 28, 2026,” the signs said. “We hope.”
It appeared word of the closure had spread by early Monday afternoon as Dixie Highway was lightly traveled south of 175th Street, though a handful of vehicles executed u-turns at the road closure while others entered the adjacent residential neighborhood following a detour route.
A graphic shared by the village showed planned detour routes. Southbound are instructed to 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.
The village said in a statement that while the closure would be inconvenient for motorists, the project would “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 project was originally planned for 2027, but IDOT moved up the timeline due to repeated flooding issues at the viaduct, according to the village. When the closure was first announced, Burman called the planned work “long overdue.”
Some of the drainage infrastructure under the viaduct is failed or failing, Burman said previously, leading to the flood problems.
“There’s probably a lot of debris in there that’s just kind of accumulated over the years,” Burman said. “With the pipe, we believe it’s like collapsing on itself, kind of choking it off, so that’s why we’re having that issue.”
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, with both storms flooding the viaduct and rendering it temporarily impassable. Vehicles that circumvented warning barricades often stalled out in the deep accumulation of water, sometimes remaining there for hours or days.
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In addition to work on the viaduct, the comprehensive improvement project will include new pavement and updated traffic patterns from Spruce Road to Park Avenue, village officials said.