Brandon Road bridge will be closed until Sept. 9

The Brandon Road bridge is expected to be closed until Sept. 9 after another breakdown with the center lock system.

The shutdown of the bridge Wednesday evening has compounded problems for traffic heading downtown, where the Jefferson Street bridge also is closed for scheduled repairs until after Labor Day.

The Brandon Road bridge was shut down because of problems with the motor that controls the center lock, said Guy Tridgell, spokesman for the Illinois Department of Transportation.

Problems with the bridge center lock led to repeated shutdowns for a one-year period from 2016 to 2017 when the bridge was closed for repairs five times. But the bridge has been fairly reliable for nearly a year.

The center lock keeps the two ends of the drawbridge connected when they come together.

“It is a crucial safety feature,” Tridgell said in an email. “The motor is ordered but needs to be fabricated with some assembly required once on site. The part is very specific.”

IDOT expects the Jefferson Street bridge to reopen sometime during the week after Labor Day.

The Jefferson Street drawbridge was closed July 9 for structural steel repairs of two girders that support the west leaf of the bridge – a job scheduled to take two months. IDOT also plans to close the bridge in early 2019.

The reopening of the bridges should ease up traffic heading downtown.

While the Brandon Road bridge is located away from the downtown area in Joliet Township, detours for both bridges direct traffic to the McDonough Street bridge.