EAST PEORIA, Ill. — Have you figured out your detours?
The countdown clock is down to under two months until the Murray Baker Bridge is closed until the end of October.
The East Peoria Chamber of Commerce held an “Eggs and Issues” breakfast Friday at the Par-A-Dice Hotel and Casino.
The “issue” at hand was the bridge project, slated to run March 29-October 31.
Keynote speaker Robert Culp, Senior Project Manager of Midwest Engineering Associates, was quick to acknowledge the construction’s impact.
“There will be an inconvenience with the detour of routes with traffic on streets we’re not accustomed to,” he said.
“But, in the end, if you think about it, they’ve done a good job of making sure everyone can get to their place of business or shopping, whether it be the Warehouse District, the [Riverfront] Museum, the Civic Center, or the Levee District.
“If you looked at that plan, there’s an alternate thought process to make sure all those businesses get as much business as they possibly can during this.”
A plethora of detour scenarios were mapped out, including the increased use of IL Route 40 for local traffic via the Bob Michel Bridge, for both eastbound (Glendale and Kumpf) and westbound (Perry, Spalding, and Kumpf), and alternative ways to get from Peoria and East Peoria to the Levee District and the Riverfront.
Having this infrastructure drew Culp’s praise.
“At one time, Peoria had more lane miles across the Illinois River than there were from Illinois into St. Louis, and I think that may still be true,” he said.
“The Bob Michel is built to the same standard as the Murray Baker. Matter of fact, if there were no traffic signals and it was designed correctly, you could carry the same amount of traffic, because there are the same four lanes on each bridge.”
Erected in 1958, the Murray Baker could be coming towards the end of its shelf life after this project, Culp said, projecting a complete rebuild will be necessary in 50 years.
Following the completion of the Murray Baker project, a re-decking of the Bob Michel is scheduled to commence, followed by upgrades to other area bridges.
Illinois Department of Transportation is holding a public information session regarding an upcoming Cedar St. Bridge project was set for Tuesday, Feb. 11 from 5 until 7 P.M. at the Festival Building in East Peoria.
