Congestion on Morton Avenue won’t last forever.
Crews from the Illinois Department of Transportation have been working on various renovation projects to smooth-out Jacksonville’s busiest street for nearly a month.
As for where the project currently stands, IDOT Senior Resident Engineer Kiley Gwaltney provides an update into the work that’s been done recently.
“We’ve got the center three lanes milled and the level binder down on those at the moment. We’re currently working on getting the outside lanes milled along with the side roads that have improvements. As soon as we can complete that, we’ll put binders down on those and hopefully be able to start on the surface mix at that point and time,” says Gwaltney.
Drivers may have notice some areas on Morton, particularly the intersection at South Main, have a number bumpy spots and force vehicle to reduce speed. Gwaltney explains what’s causing those rough spots and when to expect some improvements.
“It’s still a little rough going across some of the intersections due to us milling down the concrete area. As we cross those intersections, we will be working on trying to get those rolled back to the right dimensions. And then, as we build back up to the binder and surface, obviously those bumps will be alleviated,” says Gwaltney.
While the project still has a ways to go, Gwaltney says they continue to make progress and remain on schedule.
“We completed all three of the inside lanes in a couple of days, and hopefully, weather-permitting, we’ll be able to start putting down level binders down on the outside lanes maybe next week. If the schedule holds, we’ll finish our milling process early next week and then we’ll be back to laying our asphalt level binder near the middle-to-end of next week. As soon as that’s completed, we’ll be able to start on the actual surface mix that goes on top of the level binder,” Gwaltney explains.
Completion of the project isn’t expected until closer to the end of the summer.