CHAMPAIGN — A section of Springfield Avenue/Illinois 10 that has been closed for four months could reopen soon.
Replacement of the bridge over Copper Slough, east of Duncan Road, is still expected to be complete in a couple of weeks, according to Illinois Department of Transportation Region 3 Engineer Kensil Garnett.
Springfield Avenue has been closed at the work site since July, meaning that patrons of nearby businesses sometimes have to take longer routes to get to their destinations.
“A lot of clients will be late to appointments or call us asking for directions,” said Florence Sands, office manager at The Forest Body Art and Adornments, a tattoo and piercing shop near the corner of South Duncan Road and West Springfield Avenue.
She added that while they try to give people a heads-up about entering from Springfield and Duncan, instead of Springfield and Mattis Avenue, navigating the closures can still be challenging, especially for visitors from out of town.
“We’re appointment-only, so that can really make us behind all day,” Sands said.
When asked if she thought the project would be complete by Thanksgiving, Sands said she couldn’t speculate but hoped it would be.
Garnett said in a previous interview that the project replaces the longtime bridge, built in 1940, with a double-barrel box culvert that will “accommodate the existing three-lane cross-section” and a multi-use path.
The new structure is also designed to handle the level of flow seen in that area.
Garnett told The News-Gazette on Tuesday that IDOT still expects to be finished by Thanksgiving, despite the recent impacts of adverse weather.
“According to the report I just received, the top slab of the structure has been poured,” he said. “The job was flooded shortly after the top slab was poured, and the contractor spent the first week of November pumping water away from the site.”
