The 411: Why close McLean Boulevard now?

So let me ask this: They close McLean Boulevard in South Elgin at the railroad tracks for the next year and a half. They are going to quit working on it in November anyway. So could someone ask the Kane County head guy why they don't wait until the end of winter to close it? They aren't going to do anything anyway.

Answer: Dave Boesch, chief of construction for the Kane County Division of Transportation, says the contractors "actually are going to try to work through the winter" on this project, which is part of the overall effort to build the Stearns Road bridge over the Fox River and extend Stearns Road (partly via McDonald Road) all the way to Randall Road. The goal, Boesch said, is to have the Stearns extension open to traffic by November 2010, and that puts it on a "fast, fast track." The two projects going on right now that required closing off McLean Boulevard are the installation of a box culvert under Route 31 and replacement of the aging railroad bridge that spans McLean Boulevard just north of the gravel quarry. Once those are done, an intersection will be built between McLean and the extended Stearns.