Route 59 construction taking break Thanksgiving weekend
Lane closures and construction work are expected to take a holiday over Thanksgiving weekend on the 3.5-mile Route 59 widening project in Naperville and Aurora.
Barricades will be removed and two lanes should be open in each direction between Ferry Road and Aurora Avenue/New York Street by Wednesday evening, said Bill Novack, Naperville's director of transportation, engineering and development.
“It's good news for travelers and people that want to get to the businesses out in that area,” Novack said. “You should be able to get around, get your holiday shopping taken care of.”
Construction is scheduled to continue throughout the winter, but lane closures are expected to be less frequent.
“They'll do their best to keep as much open as they can throughout the winter,” Novack said, referring to crews from Herlihy Mid-Continent Company of Romeoville, K-Five Construction Corporation of Lemont and Martam Construction of Elgin, which were hired by the Illinois Department of Transportation to complete segments of the project.
Crews are preparing for reduced activity by painting new pavement markings so temporary barricades can be removed, installing soil erosion control measures and patching potholes or utility trenches so the pavement remains passable.
Long-term lane closures are expected to begin early next spring in the road work zone, where Route 59 is being widened to three lanes in each direction.
The nearly $90 million project began in August and is expected to be complete by fall 2015. It involves reconstruction of the interchange at I-88 into a “diverging diamond,” a traffic pattern designed to eliminate most left turns across opposing traffic, and creation of extra left-turn lanes at four major intersections: Diehl Road, North Aurora Road, Jefferson Avenue/Liberty Street and Aurora Avenue/New York Street.