Elgin’s timeline to replace two downtown bridges has been pushed back by several years.
The Elgin City Council was updated on the progress of the projects Wednesday by Public Services Director Mike Pubentz and the two engineering firms hired to design the replacements for the Kimball Street and Chicago Street bridges.
Actual construction of the replacement bridges was initially slated to begin around 2026, with work on the Kimball Street bridge going first.
But the Dundee Avenue, Center Street and Villa Street corridor project has pushed those timelines back and flipped the order. Construction is now expected to begin on the Chicago Street bridge in 2028, with Kimball following in 2029 or 2030.
“In my view, we can’t plan on any kind of detour while Dundee/Center/Villa is under construction,” Pubentz said. “I think your public comment period might last an hour and a half each night.”
When Kimball is replaced, Kurt Naus of Alfred Benesch and Co. said they recommend a full closure of the bridge for one year, as opposed to a partial closure which would extend the construction time to two years.
Naus said in addition to the extra time, staged construction would increase costs and the potential for future maintenance and still cause travel delays for drivers as they cross the Fox River.
The Kimball Street bridge is a concrete deck beam bridge that was built in 1917 and reconstructed in 1977. It sees more than 20,000 vehicles a day cross the Fox River.
The design for the replacement bridge calls for four piers in the river, as opposed to the current 10. Meanwhile, the uncertain future of the Kimball Street dam would have no impact on the bridge design.
The new bridge will have a curvature that moves a portion of it slightly to the north, allowing it to better align with the roadway at Route 31.
“It gets the kink out of the Lawrence Avenue intersection,” Pubentz said.
New lane configurations would add another westbound right turn lane onto Route 31 to relieve some traffic congestion, as well as a sidewalk on the north and a median between east and westbound traffic.
The project would also include a plan to connect the Fox River Trail with either a tunnel- or seawall-style underpass. Pubentz said the connectivity of the trail was a “high priority.”
The elevation of the bridge on the east end will be raised to accommodate the underpass.
The Chicago Street bridge was built in 1939 and has been rehabilitated several times. On average, roughly 4,500 vehicles traverse the bridge each day.
The bridge is eligible for the National Register of Historic Bridges, meaning the city needs to preserve some of the aesthetic features like the arch shape, railings and sidewalk overlooks.
Pubentz emphasized during the presentation that both bridges are safe, though both have been deemed functionally obsolete.
The upside of that designation is that they both qualify for state and federal funding, which will cover 80% of the roughly $40 million price tag.