I never expected this to have a bridge repair component. But here we are. The state of the infrastructure in Illinois, specifically bridges, is really poor. The mandarins in Springfield have ignored infrastructure, choosing instead to focus on literally anything else. As a result, we have some serious issues up here.
IL50 & I57: Bridge 016-1014
At this writing, there are 109 days to go before repairs are late. And we are 116 days past the original due date, as covered previously.
Today there were three trucks that might be workers. One dude moving a pallet. No work on the rebar.
This is troubling, because the state report from 4/12/18 on the status of the bridge deck is that the superstructure is in serious condition (3), and that the structural evaluation rating is 3, intolerable, high priority for correction. This is a bridge that sees a lot of traffic, and a lot of heavy truck traffic. Especially since the ‘construction’ of a gravel parking space just south of the span, and the addition of a power company yard (lots of cherry-picker type lineman trucks) in the same area.
US41 & Chicago River: Bridge 016-6030
This is the span that, rather infamously, cracked on February 11th. To compare to the IL50 span above, Lake Shore Drive was given ratings of ‘serious condition’ for the superstructure, ‘intolerable – high priority for correction’ for the structural evaluation, and ‘intolerable – high priority for replacement’ for the deck geometry. Despite this, and despite the crack last month, there are no open projects visible on the IDOT website regarding this span.
I80 & Des Plaines River: Bridges 099-0040 & 099-0041
There is a sign warning people not to cross, that it is too dangerous. The I80 bridges over the Des Plaines River are two disconnected spans. As such, they get two listings. Why does this matter? It matters because the east-bound superstructure rating is ‘poor’, while the west-bound rating is ‘fair’. Neither is great, of course.
These are taken from the publicly available reports, and contradict the media reports of which is worse. The above ratings also contradict the ratings reported by Shaw Media. Admittedly, the detailed reports I cite do not have conclusions in them, only data. There may be, and likely is, more information available to the actual media, or via a FOIA request. I am not the media, and haven’t sent in a FOIA request. The reason I go into this is that the linked report says that there may be repairs in the spring, which is…well…almost here. And I cannot find any contracts or reports to suggest that IDOT will be doing anything this spring.
In fact, there is a project study concerning I80 that isn’t scheduled to be finished until summer.
Reports are that “short term repairs” will happen starting next month, but there is no schedule for full reconstruction.