Elgin’s Kimball Bridge project starts Monday
By Mike Danahey mdanahey@stmedianetwork.com August 2, 2012 10:24PM
Jose Flores (left) of Elgin walks with his wife Luisa and their son Noe,2, across the Kimball Street Bridge in Elgin Monday. The long-awaited Kimball Street Bridge repair project starts Monday. August 2, 2012 | Michael Smart~Sun-Times Media
Updated: September 4, 2012 6:15AM
ELGIN — There might not be troubled waters involved, but there probably will be some snarled traffic come Monday in downtown Elgin.
That’s when the Kimball Street Bridge reconstruction and resurfacing project is scheduled to begin.
According to information from the Downtown Neighborhood Association, lane closures are anticipated Monday morning as work begins on the bridge. Concrete removal along Kimball Street from the bridge east to Dundee Avenue also begins Monday.
The project originally had been planned to run from sometime in May though part of July. It is anticipated to take about two months to complete. City Engineer Joe Evers said this work will cost more than $1 million, with a federal grant picking up about half the tab.
At the very least, what this might impact is traffic flow into and out of Gail Borden Public Library along Grove Avenue and close to the bridge.
The DNA also sponsors the Harvest Market late Thursday afternoons in the parking lot south across Kimball from the library. A weekend-long carnival is set to take place in conjunction with the market’s day on Aug. 23.
On that date, the market will move into a portion along Grove Avenue near where it normally sets up, which will hold the carnival. Details are being worked out by carnival organizers with School District U46 and the library’s summer reading program, where potentially 8,000 students will be given free admission to the carnival that Thursday.
DNA promotions coordinator Jason Pawlowski said Jennifer Benson, who manages the market for the DNA, has been working on the logistics of that day with the city. He said the layout should bring more foot traffic to the market.
Pawlowski said the DNA has been told that construction should end each day around 3 p.m., which would lessen its impact on the market and the first two days of the carnival. And two lanes of traffic are expected to be open during most of the work, he noted.
Pawlowski doesn’t think this project will be as burdensome to drivers and local offerings and businesses as the more-extensive downtown construction projects of past years.
Elgin Police Cmdr. Glenn Theriault said the traffic division is aware of the scheduled work and will be monitoring the situation. Already, signal light timing adjustments have been requested, and the streets where traffic flows onto the bridge have been taken into planning considerations, Theriault said.
Drivers who want to keep up to date on this and other downtown projects can subscribe to a weekly update at www.DowntownElgin.com.
