Main Street to Close for Bridge Replacement

For travelers on Main Street in Crete, the familiar sound of tires hitting the rough edge on Deer Creek bridge will soon be a thing of the past.

“Deer Creek bridge was built back in the 1920’s. It’s in pretty bad shape and it’s scheduled to be replaced this spring,” Crete Mayor Michael Einhorn said.

Courtesy of IDOT – that’s the Illinois Department of Transportation – the 1.3-million-dollar project is scheduled to take place between April and August of this year.

“The new bridge will be of a little bit different design. Two barrels they call it, as opposed to one open space like this one,” the mayor said.

Complicating the project – the presence of gas lines and a water main, communications and power cables, and a split intersection where Main St. meets Union Ave and Chicago Rd.

“When you got two different roads, having a confluence, setting up signals for both of those – we tried to do that and IDOT just pretty much said, it just can’t happen that way,” Mayor Einhorn said.

IDOT signage will direct travelers to Western or 394 as preferred detours, and IDOT promises that Main Street will not be closed for more than 90 days. An inconvenience, for sure, but not a bad trade in exchange for 1.3-million-dollars’ worth of road improvements.

“I’m very thankful that the State of Illinois, IDOT, decided to repair, remove and replace it,” Mr. Einhorn added.