Plan to overhaul Illinois Route 75 bridge moves forward

ROCKTON, Ill. (WIFR) – After almost 100 years of narrowly connecting downtown Rockton to the village’s southern portion, the plan to completely reconstruct the Illinois Route 75 bridge over the Rock River is getting some legs.

The Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) team behind the project to completely replace the bridge got community feedback and questions through a virtual public information meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 28.

The meeting included presentations from the people behind the project and Q&A portions for anyone on the call to ask the team their questions.

Panelists from the project included Michael Kuehn, IDOT District 2 Studies and Plans Engineer; Corey Conderman, IDOT District 2; Mike Cima, Quigg Eng. – Project manager; Francis Nelson, Quigg Eng. – Project Engineer. Sarah Parisien with WSP moderated the conversation and asked all of the questions.

Noteworthy Questions and Answers

• Q: Where does this bike path south of the river go?
  • A: “The bike path will continue east on River Street to south on Ferry Street. It will connect to Old River Road and head east by the Rockton Athletic Fields toward Illinois 2.
• Q: How much will this project cost?
  • A: Estimated to cost between 12 and 13 million dollars.
• Q: Where is the money coming from?
  • A: State and federal funding; Taxes on gas
• Q: Where will the detour be?
• Q: How much time will this detour add to my commute across the bridge?
  • A: Five minutes, no more than ten minutes

The Illinois Department of Transportation’s plan for the bridge can be seen on its website. IDOT will also post the recording of the meeting for anyone to see.

If you still have questions, they can be emailed to Andrew.P.Dewey@illinois.gov by Tuesday, Feb. 11.

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