May 18, 2024
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Ruby Street bridge in Joliet down for repairs

Mechanical failure forces shutdown ahead of scheduled maintenance

By Bob Okon
Ruby Street Bridge in downtown Joliet is closed on Monday, May 6, 2024.

Ruby Street Bridge in downtown Joliet remained closed Monday after a breakdown on Monday. (Gary Middendorf)

The Ruby Street bridge in downtown Joliet was shut down for emergency repairs Friday and the date of its future reopening is uncertain.

The drawbridge over the Des Plaines River already had been scheduled to be shut down for scheduled maintenance expected to last two months when it broke down.

The city of Joliet issued a news release Friday saying the Illinois Department of Transportation, which maintains the Ruby Street bridge, has moved up a scheduled May 13 closure because of the emergency repairs and the bridge will remain closed for at least two months.

But a spokesoman for IDOT said no such decision has been made.

“They’re still looking at it,” IDOT spokeswoman Maria Castaneda said Monday. “They’re investigating and inspecting what can be done.”

Ruby Street Bridge in downtown Joliet is closed on Monday, May 6, 2024.

Ruby Street Bridge in downtown Joliet remained in the open position on Monday, allowing barge traffic to pass in the Des Plaines River while the the bridge was closed to vehicles. (Gary Middendorf)

IDOT and Joliet put out conflicting messages on future repairs of the bridge, which initially had been scheduled to be closed in late April for planned maintenance as part of a project to equip all Joliet drawbridges for remote control operation.

The shutdown for scheduled maintenance was to start April 22 but had been pushed back to May. The bridge, like the other drawbridges downtown, is being equipped for future remote control when bridge tenders, now stationed at the bridges, will be moved to a central location in Joliet.

According to a news release issued from the city, the scheduled maintenance was to start May 13 and IDOT will not reopen the bridge until that work is done.

But Castaneda said the shutdown date for scheduled maintenance has yet to be set, and IDOT is still looking at potential repairs that may reopen the bridge before it is closed again to be equipped for remote operation.

The scheduled shutdown “was planned to be happening soon,” Castaneda said. “But there was other work that had to be done first.”

The breakdown that occurred Friday involved the centerlock mechanism on the Ruby Street bridge.

Castaneda said repair crews on Monday were still examining the bridge to determine whether it could ben repaired or if a new part would have to be fabricated, a process that could take months.

A decision was not likely until later this week, Castaneda said.