PEORIA, Ill. – It will officially re-open in the next couple weeks, but Governor JB Pritzker is already celebrating what the state is calling “substantial completion” of the expansion of the Bob Michel Bridge.
Pritzker, at the Peoria Riverfront Museum Monday, said every road and bridge in the state is important, and the Bob Michel is no exception.
“When we make smart investments in our roadways and our bridges that working families and businesses rely upon, we’re constructing a better future for the entire region,” said Pritzker. “One where parents and their children can commute with confidence, and where new factories and distribution centers are choosing to locate in Illinois.”
Illinois Department of Transportation Secretary and Peorian Omer Osman says the work was supposed to take nine months expanding lanes and adding a pedestrian and bike lane, and closing the whole bridge lessened the amount of time of the closure.
“It’s not just the concrete you see,” said Osman. “There are some very, very difficult expansion…that must be done under a certain temperature, and it takes a lot of craftsmanship to get that all linked up.”
Osman says it still was the best decision to close the bridge completely to do the $25 million worth of work, so that it could be done all at once.
The Bob Michel Bridge is something Osman has looked closely at since he started with IDOT several decades ago.
“I used to come down to the river and watch how this bridge was being built,” said Osman. “I would pay attention to the piers coming out of the water and taking shape, wondering how it would all come together.”
While officials made a point to thank all the union labor that was used on the project, former Congressman and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood thanked Governor J- Pritzker and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.
“(Pritzker) made a point of saying that transportation for our citizens is, and always will be, bipartisan. And he reached out to people like Ryan Spain and other Republicans to say, ‘You want to be a part of rebuilding our state?’ I really give the Governor credit for that.”
The project was paid with capital construction funds that were a part of the Governor’s “Rebuild Illinois” plan.
(Illinois Department of Transportation)
