Stearns School Road closed for emergency repair, bridge project

Stearns School Road in Gurnee, usually one of the busiest roads in the village, is the focus of two repair projects that will stop traffic.

Lake County transportation workers have begun to fix a portion of the road damaged after a culvert that failed in late March. And the Stearns School Road bridge over I-94 was closed to through traffic on Friday by Illinois State Toll Highway Authority workers as part of the bridge replacement project.

According to state data, an average of 15,900 motorists per day use Stearns School Road.

The bridge is one of the few that connect the east and west sides of Gurnee. Tollway officials said Friday the bridge is closed through the end of the year for reconstruction.

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

Traffic on I-94 will eventually be reduced from four lanes to three lanes near the bridge replacement work, according to the tollway's website. The work is part of the tollway's 15-year, $14 billion capital program, officials said.

Less than two miles west of the bridge, Stearns School Road is closed from Hutchins Road to North Mill Creek Drive for emergency road repair.

The section of road first was closed March 25 when officials discovered the culvert beneath the road was in bad shape. The culvert collapsed days later.

In the meantime, county officials worked on how to acquire materials, design the repairs, secure permits and conduct the construction, according to a news release. Officials plan for the roadwork to be finished in three to four weeks, weather permitting.