Local drivers will see all five lanes on Morton Avenue open up just in time for the weekend.
As previously reported, crews from IDOT had plans to complete their lane work on the city’s busiest street by the end of June, and it appears that they’ve been able to stay on schedule.
Senior Resident Engineer for IDOT and Project Manager for the Morton Avenue renovations Kiley Gwaltney says traffic should start flowing much smoother by tomorrow evening.
“Friday afternoon we should be pulling the barricades off of Morton Avenue and opening it up to five lanes. The work that we’ll have left after that will be some striping and some miscellaneous seeding and sodding to be completed and some other odds and ends work that will be completed later this summer. But we should not have anymore overnight lane closures or anything like that,” says Gwaltney.
Drivers may have noticed crews doing some finishing work on the outside lanes in recent days. Gwaltney explains what exactly that work involves, and why it’s necessary.
“Right now we’re doing some manhole adjustments to get the manhole grates up to the elevation of the roadway. Those are being completed today. We hope to finish that up today at various locations to keep the road smooth,” Gwaltney says.
Gwaltney says while all lanes are scheduled to open up tomorrow afternoon, there could be a few smaller projects completed at a later time.
The local project looks to wrap up at an ideal time, as other road projects across the state could be put on hold until lawmakers pass a state budget.