Bridge work in C-U a necessary step in I-57/74 cloverleaf project

Apr. 11—CHAMPAIGN — Not unlike humans, concrete needs a coat during the winter.

Because concrete doesn't cure well below 45 degrees, the Illinois Department of Transportation had to use thermal blankets and heaters when it poured concrete on the bridges near the Interstate 57/74 interchange.

"We had to work in the winter because of the tight deadlines," said Ken Crawford, project implementation engineer with IDOT District 5. "We had to go above and beyond to protect the concrete."

The Bloomington Road bridge over I-57 and the Mattis Avenue bridges over I-74 and I-57 are being rebuilt and lengthened to make room for longer ramps onto what will be a new interchange.

Work on the bridges started last August, and they're scheduled to be completed this August.

The piers and abutments that make up the substructure on the Bloomington Road bridge have been completed, Crawford said, and the beams were being placed across the highway last week.

The construction was done overnight so highway lanes could be closed.

"We can't have live traffic (underneath) in case something happens," Crawford said.

On Mattis Avenue, construction crews are working the substructure for the bridge over I-74, Crawford said, and it could be three to four weeks before the steel beams are placed and highway lanes need to be closed.

On the Mattis Avenue bridge over I-57, he said the beams could be placed in one to two weeks.

"After we get the structural steel in place, we begin placing form for the concrete superstructure," which is essentially the bridge deck, Crawford said.

The Mattis Avenue bridge over I-57 was in bad shape and "needed replacing badly," Crawford said.

The three bridge replacements cost a combined $29 million and will make room for the redesigned interchange ramps.

That entire project is estimated to be about $120 million, according to IDOT, and while the contract is going to be let in June, it's not expected to be completed until 2025, Crawford said.

"There's going to be a lot of work," he said.

IDOT will be removing the cloverleaf interchange that has been there since 1965 and replacing it with a complex set of ramps that includes two flyover structures over the middle of the interchange.

The new design is supposed to be safer, with wider radii and less steep ramps.