New Delays Push Peterson/Lincoln Construction Work Past 2-Year Mark

Business owners and residents frustrated by endless construction cones and jackhammers near Peterson and Lincoln avenues are weathering yet another delay that will push the work past the two-year mark.

Repairs of the Peterson Avenue Bridge that were supposed to end around Aug. 2 will instead conclude on “approximately Aug. 15,” Illinois Department of Transportation spokeswoman Jae Miller said this week.

In June, merchants told the Chicago Sun-Times that nearly two years of construction in the area — involving city sewer replacement and state bridge work — was killing business. The latest delay will bring the work past the two-year mark.

See the June Chicago Sun-Times story, photo gallery, video and map of construction work here:

http://www.suntimes.com/news/20686312-418/merchants-two-years-of-construction-work-near-one-north-side-corner-is-too-much.html

IDOT bridge repairs in the area started on Aug. 8, 2011 (yes, 2011). They were interrupted by City Department of Water Management crews who replaced 1.2 miles of sewers. Peace settled over the busy Lincoln/Peterson intersection and surrounding neighborhood for about three weeks in early summer, but then IDOT swooped back in July 8.

The latest delay was triggered after IDOT workers, during the most recent round of repairs on the Peterson Avenue bridge, noticed “a few additional areas of concern,” including “section loss on the lower flanges over the bearings and some concrete deterioration under the bearings which are just due to old age,” IDOT’s Miller said.

The latest repair needs that were not detected earlier by IDOT “had nothing to do” with the city sewer repair work that immediately preceded the latest round of Peterson Avenue Bridge work, Miller said.

The good news is, according to IDOT, the work is scheduled to end by this Thursday.