A new era in Kendall County transportation begins: Eldamain Road bridge opens to traffic

More than 30 years of planning, engineering and construction came to fruition on Wednesday, May 31 as Kendall County leaders dedicated the Eldamain Road bridge and opened the span to vehicle traffic over the Fox River.

After a dedication and ribbon-cutting ceremony at the south end of the bridge, members of the invitation-only crowd returned to their vehicles and proceeded north over the crossing to River Road, where the traffic signals had already been activated.

The historic moment ushers in a new era of transportation for Kendall County residents, making a much needed north-south connection midway between Yorkville and Plano.

“This project is going to make a difference for generations to come.”

—  Omer Osman, Illinois Department of Transportation secretary

The span is officially known as the Francis C. Klaas Bridge in honor of the county’s highway engineer, who has been overseeing the project since 1991.

“Thank you Fran for your forward vision,” Kendall County Board Chairman Matt Kellogg told Klaas before the estimated 250 people in attendance.

The bridge is only the eighth Fox River crossing site in Kendall County and the first since the opening of the Orchard Road bridge in 2001 in Oswego.

“Funding is always the biggest hurdle with a project like this,” Klaas told the audience. “Thanks to all of you elected officials who supported us for 30 years.”

The $35 million project included $18 million for the bridge itself, while the roadwork came in at another $17 million.

Klaas credited the engineers and contractors, including H.R. Green, Dunnet Bay and Plote Construction for completing the project on budget and ahead of schedule.

Illinois Department of Transportation Secretary Omer Osman said the bridge becomes a vital part of the state’s extensive highway network.

“This project is going to make a difference for generations to come,” Osman said.

Yorkville Mayor John Purcell and Plano Mayor Mike Rennels are each looking at Eldamain Road, which serves as the boundary between the two municipalities, as an engine of economic development that will be hitting on all cylinders now that the bridge is open.

“We’ve had more and more interest from developers as the bridge project has neared completion,” Purcell said. “It will drive economic development.”

“Plano will be the first destination for industry and manufacturing on this route,” Rennels said.

Kendall County Sheriff Dwight Baird said the crossing will provide deputies with a new north-south route for patrolling and responding to emergencies.

“It’s going to give us another alternative,” Baird said.

The sheriff said his deputies will be keeping an eye on the bridge’s 45-mile-per-hour speed limit.

“There’s going to be a learning period,” the sheriff said, as motorists become accustomed to the new route.

The dedication ceremonies included plenty of participation from community members.

Hannah Divin, a 2021 graduate of Yorkville High School and a college music education student, sang the National Anthem, while members of the Yorkville American Legion Post 489 presented the colors.

Father Matt Lamoureux of St. Patrick Catholic Church in Yorkville offered a benediction.

“May the angels guide all who travel on this bridge,” the priest said.

The bridge has a two-lane roadway deck, as well as a pedestrian and bicycle path that is protected from the vehicle lanes by a concrete parapet wall. The roadway has the potential for expansion to four lanes.

At 1,557 feet, the Eldamain span is the county’s longest bridge.

The bridge includes about 5 million pounds of structural steel and 1 million pounds of steel rebar.

Kendall County Board Highway Committee Chairman Zach Bachmann said that translates into 3.2 billion paper clips and that the concrete used to build the bridge would be enough to construct a sidewalk all the way to Iowa.

The new north-south river crossing is about halfway between the Route 47 bridge in downtown Yorkville and the Fox River Drive bridge just south of Plano, a 5-mile gap.

The bridge is expected to change driving patterns. The new alternative is hoped to provide motorists crossing the bridge in downtown Yorkville with some relief from heavy truck traffic.

The project extends from River Road just north of the Fox River to Route 71 and farther south on West High Point Road.

The key connection created by the bridge will be from U.S. Route 34 to Illinois Route 71, two of Kendall County’s principal east-west thoroughfares.

At the southern end of the project, drawings have been rendered to show a future Lisbon Road extension, making a connection with Walker Road to the south, but there are no immediate plans to carry out the extension.

To the north, the existing Eldamain Road extends all the way to Kane County.

Motorists traveling the extension south of the bridge will find themselves on a wide-open, two-lane roadway, with the traffic lanes separated by an 18-foot median with concrete curbs. On the outside will be a wide shoulder and an open ditch drainage system.

The extension intersects with Fox Road, just north of the railroad tracks, at a point where the east-west roadway takes a short jog on a north-south axis, linking with West High Point Road to the south.

Instead of a conventional intersection, the connection at Eldamain and Fox roads is a roundabout, allowing traffic to flow in one direction around a central island, increasing safety and eliminating the need for a traffic signal.

The roundabout at Eldamain and Fox roads has legs on the north, south and west sides. An eastern leg could be added later.