Just askin' | Sidewalks on Mattis Avenue bridges
May 9—Will there be sidewalks on both sides of the Mattis Avenue bridge going over Interstate 74? I have a quarter wager riding on it.
Not sure which way you bet, but there will indeed be sidewalks on both sides.
"There will be sidewalks on both sides of Mattis over I-74 and I-57 when work is complete," said Ken Crawford, project implementation engineer with IDOT District 5. "Bloomington Road over I-57 will only have one sidewalk on the north side of the road."
Those bridges are being rebuilt and lengthened to make room for longer ramps onto what will be a new I-57/74 interchange.
Work on the bridges started last August, and they're scheduled to be completed this August.
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.
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.
