MILES TO GO
BRIDGE CLOSURE MEANS LONGER BUSING TIMES FOR LOCAL STUDENTS
LOCKPORT -- The Illinois 7 high bridge is scheduled to close for almost four months beginning Monday, and that will mean a longer bus trip for Crest Hill students who cross the Des Plaines River to attend Lockport Township High School.
The bridge will be closed between Monday and Aug. 31, weather permitting, so workers can perform a $1.9 million resurfacing project on the structure, according to the Illinois Department of Transportation.
(John Patsch/Staff Photographer)
The bridge closing could affect Crest Hill students for the remainder of this school year and the beginning of the 2008-09 year, said Garry Raymond, superintendent of the high school district.
"It's obviously going to add quite a bit of travel time to those students' bus ride," Raymond said.
Just fewer than 400 Crest Hill students take the bus trip eastward across the waterways to the high school's Central and East campuses in Lockport, said Frank Popek, transportation manager for the school district.
As of next week, the buses no longer will be able to use the high bridge, which spans the river and ship canal just west of downtown Lockport.
At this point, the school district's transportation department is leaning toward using a Joliet detour route for all Crest Hill students, Popek said.
The Joliet detour is expected to add 10 to 15 minutes onto the trip for the Crest Hill routes, and those students should show up at their bus stops 10 minutes earlier in the morning, Popek said.
With the Joliet route, the buses would travel south from Crest Hill, cross the river at Joliet's Ruby Street bridge, travel eastward through downtown Joliet, and then head back north into Lockport using Collins Street, which becomes Illinois 171.
This route would be similar, with a few minor changes, to the state's suggested detour route for vehicles under 13 feet, 4 inches high.
When accidents have tied up traffic on the Lockport high bridge in the past, school district buses have used this Joliet alternative, so it's a well-established route, Popek said.
Another possible detour route -- 135th Street in the Romeoville area -- has become congested quickly in the past, Popek said. There is potential for that to happen next week, as the state is using 135th as a truck detour route.
However, the district will not know the specifics of the traffic situation until the Lockport high bridge actually closes, so at this point the district does not have a final answer on a detour route, Popek said.
Then, school begins again Aug. 15, a little more than two weeks before the estimated completion date of the bridge project.