Kane County road work update
Hard to believe, but the Kirk Road-Route 38 project looks to be just about done.
No more driving through a slalom course of barricades and shifting, sometimes disappearing, lanes. Just a few little lane closures while they wrap up miscellaneous stuff like planting trees and grass, installing brick in some of the medians, and installing permanent traffic signals.
The grass will go in the western median on Route 38 (near the Shell station). The trees will go on the rights-of-way along Route 38 and on the south leg of Kirk.
Great Western Trail:
ΠA portion of the Great Western Trail is closed through Thursday for bridge replacement work.
No access will be allowed between Meredith Road and Wooley Road during the project.
The Great Western Trail runs from St. Charles to the DeKalb County line, near Virgil.
For more information, visit www.kaneforest.com or contact the Forest Preserve District of Kane County at (630) 232-5980.
Wilson Street work
Utility work on Wilson Street east of the bridge in Batavia has been pushed back to next week, to allow for more critical work to be done.
That means this week you can make turns from Wilson onto northbound River Street. Work continues this week to prepare the northeast abutment for concrete pouring, which probably won't happen until next week, said Terry Heffron, bridge liaison.
So far, there has been about four days of "slippage" in the revised work schedule for the bridge. The contractor is thinking of adding a shift one Sunday in November to help catch up.
"We're within three days of our schedule, and that's not too bad," Heffron said.
The bridge will be open to traffic this winter, although it won't get its topcoat until spring.
And over the winter, you will still see workers down there, doing things that aren't weather-dependent (unlike pouring concrete and pouring asphalt.)
On dry days they'll be putting pre-cast pieces in place for the stairways to the riverside, for example, and installing railings on the bridge. "Bolt-together stuff," Heffron said.
McLean Boulevard
They are still relocating utilities near Spring Street and Bowes Road. When that is done, widening work will resume.
Downtown St. Charles:Œ
Minor traffic-related stuff from First Street, as most of the First Street work has come to an end until next spring.
The biggest thing this week is that work on the parking deck is proceeding a little faster than anticipated, so they won't be able to stage the pre-cast concrete panels on Walnut anymore. Instead, the trucks will come north on Route 31 to Illinois Street, then east on Illinois to First and north on First to the site. So there may be some lane closures and flagmen directing you around that.
In mid-November, parking will be restricted on First Street near the parking deck, as they will have to move the crane onto First to finish up the work. The street will still be open to traffic, though.
Again -- it's really something to see, from a safe distance. Every time I stop by the Blue Goose to pick up something for lunch, somebody's always standing out front, head tilted back, watching that crane in action.