Lucinda Ave, bridge reconstruction timeline in DeKalb faces ‘slight’ setback, says city engineer

DeKALB – Reconstruction of the Lucinda Avenue bridge in DeKalb has been dealt a slight setback in its timeline, said the city’s engineer.

The goal had been to complete the project by the first week of September. That was pushed back from original completion plans last year when utility company delays slowed the build. The project will remove the 70-year-old Lucinda Avenue bridge and rebuild it as a single-span structure, meaning it has supports on either side of the structures nearest to the river banks.

City Engineer Zac Gill said the delay again stems from a third-party, utility conflict.

“It was related to a conflict with the sanitary sewer,” Gill said Friday. “Just like everything else on both these bridges, it’s always been a third-party utility that we run into issues. We work with them well to resolve that, but it takes some slight redesigns. Sanitary sewers are obviously very deep in the ground and around [Northern Illinois University], they carry a lot of flow. So, it’s a delicate situation there. We had to make some adjustments to that.”

Gill said the city has reached a significant milestone with the bridge’s reconstruction since then.

“They are pouring the approach slabs for the Lucinda Avenue bridge,” Gill said. “Obviously, the deck – as everyone saw – was poured even about a month ago now or so. These are the last major structural component, functional component. Those are completed. That’s a pretty significant milestone to get past. We have left to do some buttoning up there – where curb, sidewalk, some of the railing are being put in place.”

Gill said he hopes the city’s efforts won’t be for naught.

“By and large, I think maybe we only hopefully only lost about a week total,” Gill said. “We’re looking at another month and week leading into that second week of September, but that’s not official or final. Again, we just got to this milestone today, and we’re going to produce a new projected schedule and see what other subcontractors. They’ll have to be independently scheduled, complete those other side tasks. But generally speaking, we’re in good shape there. We’re out of the woods again on all the major components for a functional bridge there.”

The work is part of a combined single contract tying the reconstruction of both the Lucinda Avenue and First Street bridges. First Street Bridge reopened to vehicular traffic after numerous delays in December 2023.

The replacements were expected to cost about $5.6 million total, largely funded by federal money, city documents show. About $4.5 million came from federal funds and $1.1 million from local state motor fuel tax revenue collected in recent years.

Gill said construction along the First Street bridge pathway faced a delay of its own due to sanitary sewer conflicts.

“We have to relocate a force main, which is one of the main force mains carrying the wastewater away from the university,” Gill said. “Again, it’s kind of a sensitive run of pipe. We need to install some additional valves on that. They’re kind of specialized. We had a delay there on some equipment delivery. Again, it’s a very specific fully stainless steel valve that’s especially designed to handle wastewater that’s under pressure.”

City staff said it is projected that it could be about a month before the First Street bridge pathway is fully open to the public.