Work begins to replace Stearns School Road bridge in Gurnee

Work to remove and rebuild the Stearns School Road bridge, which carries traffic over Interstate 94 in Gurnee, has begun, the Illinois tollway said Tuesday.

The bridge, one of the few that connect the east and west sides of Gurnee, remains open for now but will close to the public for about nine months beginning in late March.

It will be replaced with a wider structure that will accommodate three lanes of vehicle traffic over the tollway, feature 4-foot-wide shoulders, and have paths for pedestrians and bicyclists on both sides.

It will be designed to accommodate future local roadway improvements, according to the state.

There will be daily lane closures from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. during the initial work, which began Monday. There also will be occasional periods where all lanes are closed at night, such as on Thursday night into early Friday morning.

The Gurnee village board in May reasserted its commitment to contribute $1.2 million to help pay for a bike path on the north side of Stearns School Road and a 6-foot-wide sidewalk to the south side of the bridge.

In 2001, the bridge became the first in the village to accommodate bicyclists and pedestrians when a bike lane was added to the north side of the roadway.

The work is part of the tollway's 15-year, $14 billion capital program, officials said.