Panel approves Stearns pacts

Just as parts of what will become the Stearns Road bridge have begun to take shape at the St. Charles Township construction site, the Kane County Board's transportation committee approved $3.9 million in engineering and construction contracts for the project.

On Monday, the committee OK'd a $3.4 million contract with Chicago-based Baker Engineering Inc. for the second phase of engineering for the main four-lane bridge over the Fox River. The company will devote 25,000 hours to the engineering, according to the agreement.

Also approved were two contracts with Chicago-based TY Lin International Great Lakes Inc. to build Dunham Road over the railroad tracks and construct a portion of Stearns over the north arm of Brewster Creek. The total cost of both projects is $4.2 million, with Kane County kicking in $440,000. The balance will be funded by state and federal government sources.

Construction on those projects will begin in the spring, county engineer Carl Schoedel said.

"This is a real project now," Schoedel said. "Things are under construction."

The full county board will vote on the contracts next month.

Nearly half of the 73 parcels needed to construct the bridge corridor have been acquired by Kane and DuPage counties and the Illinois Department of Transportation, mostly from private landowners.

The $150 million bridge is scheduled to open to traffic in late 2010.

"This is the largest project I think that (Kane County) has ever done," said transportation committee chairman Jan Carlson, an Elburn Republican.