Will County bridge shut down for locks upgrade

The Brandon Road bridge is scheduled to reopen at 6 p.m. Tuesday after being closed for work being done on the locks at the site.

U.S. Sen. Richard Durbin, D-IL, visited the site in Joliet Township on Monday for updates on an unrelated project aimed at keeping Asian carp out of Lake Michigan.

The work being done by the Army Corps of Engineers at the locks involves a miter gate installation and machinery replacement. The project has closed the bridge since early Sunday morning.

It was the second of three scheduled closings of the bridge for maintenance work on the locks that is part of the Illinois Waterway Consolidated Lock Closures project. The Brandon Road bridge next will be closed Sept. 23 and 24.

Durbin said in a statement issued by his office that he has channeled $282 million toward work on the Brandon Road locks.

Much of the money is aimed at preventing Asian carp from migrating from the Des Plaines River to Lake Michigan.

“There is a looming threat posed by invasive carp to the invaluable economic and environmental resources of our Great Lakes,” Durbin said in the news release. “The Brandon Road project emerges as our most promising shield in safeguarding our region’s greatest natural resource.”

Work on the Asian carp project is still in the engineering and design phase, according to the Army Corps of Engineers.