Engineers look to give Fox bridge some style

Ancient design and modern engineering technology are merging over the Fox River.

The Illinois State Toll Highway Authority is in the middle of building a new I-88 bridge near the Aurora Toll Plaza.

When complete, it will carry eastbound drivers on three lanes of traffic compared to two lanes in each direction on the existing bridge.

The current bridge will be rehabbed in 2009 to carry three lanes of westbound drivers.

But unlike many of the tollway's bridges, which are purely functional in appearance, this structure has a lot of character.

Composed of a series of five arches, it complements the older bridge to the north, which opened in 1958.

"The original bridge is the only arched bridge in our system," said tollway Deputy Chief of Engineering Rocco Zucchero.

"We're trying to replicate it, not duplicate it."

At the job site, Bob Jetter watches a surging Fox River.

"We had a terrible winter and we're feeling the effects of it," said Jetter, who works for H.W. Lochner Inc. and is the tollway's resident engineer for the project.

After overseeing countless conventional highway bridges erected across the country, this is a job after his own heart.

"Everything looks the same," he explained.

"You don't see arches that much. It's the old Roman way to build bridges."

The historical design that forces the weight of the bridge onto the arches should mean the structure lasts longer than the norm, experts say.

As an example, the 50-year-old Fox River bridge "is still pretty strong," Jetter said.

The project is part of a $44.5 million contract that includes work on other smaller bridges nearby plus related construction work.

When completed, the new bridge will be 1,345 feet long. The arches are made of pre-cast concrete at a nearby facility by the contractor, James McHugh Construction Co.

Weighing about 92 tons, it's a slow process to transport one arch to the river -- just one of the complications of the job.

Workers have already drilled caissons into the river basin bedrock to create a foundation for the arches. And a massive crane sitting on a temporary work pad over the river awaits to lift the bridge components.

"Everything has to be engineered perfectly," Jetter said.

That's one reason work had slowed Thursday. Because of rain and melting snow, the river, diverted into two channels along the bridge project, was too high to allow construction to proceed.

The engineering isn't the only thing that needed to be in balance for the project. Multiple layers of government from the Army Corps of Engineers to the city of Aurora to the Fox Valley Park District were involved in initial planning.

And the tollway must meet environmental regulations to ensure building materials don't enter the river.

Despite weather-related issues, officials still expect the bridge to be ready before the end of the year.

"Every bridge has its own personality," Jetter said. "This is very environmentally pleasing."