Route 59 construction zone switching soon to winter traffic pattern
As winter sets in, work is scheduled to slow on the Route 59 widening project along the Naperville/Aurora border.
Traffic also might slow where Route 59 intersects with I-88 near the north end of the 3.5-mile construction zone, as northbound Route 59 will be reduced to one lane on the bridge over the tollway. Southbound traffic will continue to have two lanes over the tollway.
Transportation officials say they will be providing two lanes in each direction wherever possible during the winter months, including under the Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad tracks between North Aurora Road and Meridian Parkway.
During the next two weeks, contractors hired by the Illinois Department of Transportation plan to shift all traffic at the heavily traveled state road and the east-west tollway to a winter lane configuration, which will allow work to continue throughout the coldest months as weather allows.
Winter traffic patterns are the latest change in the two-year, nearly $90 million project to widen the road to three lanes in each direction, create a new "diverging diamond" interchange at Route 59 and I-88 and add new turn lanes at major intersections between Ferry Road and Aurora Avenue/New York Street.
The construction project began in August 2013 and is scheduled to be complete by September 2015.
Work finished so far includes utility relocation, construction of retaining walls, installation of a new pumping station to keep the Burlington Northern Santa Fe underpass free of water, permanent paving on one side of Route 59 at many intersections in the work zone and construction of one of the two new bridges for the tollway interchange.
Work that remains includes construction of the other tollway interchange bridge, permanent paving on the other side of Route 59 and installation of noise walls.