Eldamain Road bridge between Yorkville, Plano to open for vehicle traffic May 31

The Eldamain Road bridge over the Fox River is expected to open for vehicle traffic late on the afternoon of May 31, after a ribbon-cutting ceremony inaugurating the span.

The bridge will provide motorists, bicyclists and pedestrians with a new north-south connection midway between Yorkville and Plano.

Provided the weather cooperates, the traffic signals at the intersection of Eldamain and River roads will be activated while the ceremony is underway, with the bridge expected to open to the public about 3:30 p.m.

The bridge will officially be known as the Francis C. Klaas Bridge, in honor of the Kendall County highway engineer who has been planning, designing and overseeing the project since he joined the staff in 1991.

Klaas said the only work left to complete the bridge and its approaches are the centerline, edge lines, turn lanes, turn arrows and other pavement markings.

Workers will grind shallow grooves in the pavement to apply reflective material that will be flush with the roadway surface in order to prevent the markings from being scrapped off by snowplows, Klaas 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 bridge has the potential for expansion to four lanes.

The guest list for the ribbon-cutting is extensive, Kendall County Board Chairman Matt Kellogg said, with local, state and federal elected officeholders, transportation officials and community leaders to be on hand.

By any measure, construction of Klaas Bridge is a historic achievement for Kendall County.

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

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

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

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.

When the bridge opens, it 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.

Eldamain Road is the boundary between Plano and Yorkville, with both municipalities and the county government looking at the road as an engine of economic development.

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.

Construction for the bridge structure began March 10, 2021, and the work was proceeding so rapidly that completion was expected before the end of last year.

However, a quarry workers’ strike during the spring and summer of 2022 brought production of concrete to a grinding halt across northern Illinois, slowing down the project.

Yet, the project is being completed before this summer’s deadline.