Naperville residents have been treated to varying levels of road construction on Washington Street since May 2023. Spanning three distinct projects, the City of Naperville and Illinois Department of Transportation are replacing a bridge, reconstructing a road, and resurfacing miles of a main arterial road in Naperville.
The longest-running project is the Washington Street Bridge replacement project, originally starting construction in May 2023 after various delays due to land acquisition. The project is scheduled to finish in June 2025 after encountering numerous delays in the construction process.
A streetscape reconstruction involving utility work and repaving started construction earlier this year. It stretches from the intersection of Chicago Avenue and Washington Street to the intersection of Benton Avenue and Washington in downtown Naperville. The project is projected to be finished at the beginning of November.
As part of Naperville’s road resurfacing contract, the City also opted to start resurfacing work on Washington from Ogden Avenue to Bluebird Lane, a distance spanning over three miles. The project is scheduled to finish towards the end of September.
“As long as the Washington Street Bridge is going to be down to one lane in each direction, [we thought] that’d be the perfect time to do all of that utility and streetscape and paving work from Chicago Avenue to Benton,” said Bill Novack, the Director of Transportation, Engineering and Development for the City of Naperville. “Similarly, we knew that we needed to resurface Washington Street. We said, while we get everything else done […] we will basically mill off the surface, fix deteriorated curbs and sidewalks and redo Washington Street from Ogden Avenue to just south of 75th Street.”
THE BRIDGE
The Washington Street Bridge Reconstruction is slated to take the longest out of the three projects and has encountered the most delays. After three years of delays due to land acquisition, Naperville and IDOT finally broke ground in May 2023.
“It’s not just a bridge. It includes a water main and AT&T duct bank on the east side of the bridge,” Novack said. “It also includes a sanitary sewer and electric duct bank on the west side, also the intersection of Aurora and Washington. It’s a huge project.”
The project is broken up into two distinct phases. The first was the demolition and rebuilding of the east side of the bridge, which finished work in May 2024. The second phase started immediately after and included the demolition and ongoing reconstruction of the west side of the bridge.
“The contractor did not, from my perspective, put enough resources on the job to get it done,” Novack said. “They have gotten it done in two years. But they didn’t give it their full attention, they got behind and they have not made much of an attempt to catch up. The City will pursue damages with them for not finishing on time.”
The contract is held by IDOT, which means Naperville has no power over the contractor’s work.
“They just don’t want to listen,” Novack said. “They’re going to do their thing and it’s unfortunate. The good news I’ll say about the bridge contractor, is that the work they do is very good. I have no concerns over the quality or the looks or anything of it.”
Naperville’s share of the $11.583 million price tag is estimated at $3.043 million.
“Right now, it does not look promising that they will finish at the end of this year,” Novack said. “I myself, I’m saying it will probably be next June before they’re all wrapped up and out of there.”
CHICAGO TO BENTON
Directly north of the bridge reconstruction project, the City opted to reconstruct Washington Street from Chicago Avenue to Benton Avenue, with construction starting earlier this year.
“We knew that Washington Street—the four blocks north of the bridge from Chicago to Benton—were in need of utility work,” Novack said. “The water main needed to be replaced, the streetscape was old and needed to be replaced and the roadway was in bad shape.”
The project was bid out in Nov. 2023 and awarded at a price of $8,385,213.96, with work starting in Feb. 2024.
The work directly abuts the bridge worksite, and the reconstruction of the Washington and Chicago intersection is under the streetscape contractor’s purview.
“Right now, [the contractor] is about two weeks behind schedule,” Novack said. “They were supposed to finish in the middle of October. Right now, they’re looking at about Nov. 1 and then cleanup for a couple of weeks after that. But that contractor [has] tried very hard. They’ve communicated great with us.”
Included in the work is pavement removal and replacement, sidewalk removal and replacement, storm sewer installation, street lighting and electrical infrastructure, among other changes.
THREE MILE STRETCH
After starting work in late July, progress moved south from Ogden Avenue down Washington Street to Bluebird Lane, directly south of the Washington Street and 75th Street intersection. The work spans just over three miles.
“Timing on that did not work out well,” Novack said. “The contractor also got behind, and unfortunately got to the stuff south of the bridge right next to [Naperville Central].”
Due to the work, drivers can expect daily lane closures along Washington Street.
“The big thing is to go slowly through the work zones for two reasons,” Novack said. “Number one, for the safety of you and the construction workers out there. Number two, if it’s a work zone, there’s going to be potholes that develop.”
Novack expects the repaving work to last through the end of September.
“We looked at it, we said, we’ve got a big disruptive project on Washington [Street],” Novack said. “We’ll do another disruptive one, and let’s get it resurfaced at the same time, so after that, we’re not touching Washington Street for a decade.”
