PEORIA MAGAZINE October 2022

The work includes bridge deck overlay, joint replacement or repairs, bridge repairs, reconfiguration of the deck to improve pedestrian and bike accommodations, and navigation lighting repairs. “One of the unique things is to reconfigure the deck to accommodate bikes and pedestrians,” Dvorsky said. “Right now, there are sidewalks on both sides. We’ll remove those, reconfigure the concrete median and reallocate space, building a 14-foot, bi-directional, multi-use path on the upstream side (Embassy Suites side) of the bridge. The path will be separated from traffic with a concrete barrier.” The goal is to go out for bids this fall with construction beginning in 2023 and lasting from March to November. Dvorsky said the bridge, which was built in 1993, will be closed to vehicular traffic, but it will be accessible to pedestrian and bike traffic throughout the project. A $66.9 million project for Cedar Street will begin once work on the Michel Bridge is completed, Dvorsky said. The work will combine three projects and require a two-year closure due to the number of bridges in need of repair on the entire stretch of Cedar Street. The three projects are: • The Cedar Street Extension on the roadway’s east end will see a reconstruction of the Edmund Street interchange. In addition, the 56-year-old bridge over the Tazewell and Peoria Railroad and Illinois Route 29 will be replaced. This project also includes reconstruction of Main Street from Ravine Street to Silver Street in East Peoria. • Illinois Route 116/Route 8 will receive mill and overlay from the Illinois River to Center Street, including the Edmund Street interchange. The bridge decks will be replaced and rehabilitated on bridges over Richland and Edmund Streets. • Structural steel repairs will be made to the 90-year-old Cedar Street Bridge carrying Illinois Route 116/ Route 8 over the river.

Theworkwill be put out for bid in 2023 with construction beginning in 2024. Two separate projects call for bridge replacements on Adams Street and on Interstate 474 over Kickapoo Creek. Replacing the eastbound and westbound bridges on Adams Street over the BNSF and UP railroads will cost $39 million. The eastbound bridge was built in 1980, the westbound bridge in 1936. The deck on the bridge carrying Interstate 474 over Kickapoo Creek and the Burlington-Northern Railroad will be replaced at a cost of $14.3million. The bridge was built in 1978. “This is of a smaller scope, similar to what was done on the Murray Baker Bridge with removal of the whole deck,” Dvorsky said. “It helps elongate the life of the bridge.” Meanwhile, a third bridge on Airport Roadover Interstate474 –originallybuilt in 1978 — about one-half mile northeast of theGeneralWayneA. Downing Peoria International Airport will be replaced at a price tag of $8.5 million. “That bridge serves the airport, so it’s important to the area for that reason,” Dvorsky said. Construction on these projects could begin in 2024. Once the new eastbound span of the McClugage Bridge is completed, deck replacement and maintenance will begin on the westbound McClugage span , which was built in 1982.

“As soon as the new eastbound bridge is open, we’ll immediately put traffic on the new bridge and close the westbound,” Dvorsky said. Design work is underway on the $53.7 million project. A new bridge immediately upstream from the existing Illinois Route 18 bridge at Henry in Marshall County will be constructed for $128 million. “One of the goals of the community was to select an alignment that is offline so we can keep the bridge open during construction – like the newMcClugage Bridge eastbound span,” Dvorsky said. Phase one – developing the project scope, environmental studies and preliminary design of the project – is currently underway. This phase could take up to two years, followed by the designphaseand likely another twoyears. Replacing a bridge and widening U.S. Route 29/Illinois Route 9 to four lanes fromBanner to KingstonMines is included in IDOT’s multi-year plan at a cost of $110.3 million. “This … is a project that actually got started a couple decades ago,” Dvorsky said.

Lisa Coon is a Peoria native who had a long career in the newspaper industry before moving into marketing and communications

OCTOBER 2022 PEORIA MAGAZINE 39