Bridging the gaps in Joliet

Bridges sure are a big deal around here.

There’s the massive Houbolt Road bridge project, which was announced by former Gov. Bruce Rauner in 2016 before the first construction trailer arrived on site last week.

There’s the NorthPoint bridge over Route 53, which is getting all kinds of attention between Elwood and downtown Chicago in a lobbying effort to get Gov. JB Pritzker to step in to make it happen or step in to squash it, depending on whether you’re for or against.

And, there’s the Jefferson Street bridge, which will be the subject of a press conference Friday in which Mayor Bob O’Dekirk and others will call on the state to do more for the bridge that just can’t seem to get fixed.

It’s the Illinois Department of Transportation that actually maintains the bridges, a point city officials like to make because people get so ticked off about them being shut down for repairs.

The Jefferson Street bridge has been shut down since June for maintenance that was supposed to be done by August, an end date that has been pushed back at least twice before this week’s announcement that it will be October.

This is all too familiar.

Remember the 2015 paint job on the Jefferson Street bridge that started in June, was supposed to be done by October, and ended up being finished in June 2016, although IDOT did put the bridge back in commission during the winter months when it couldn’t paint.

And there was 2003 when the bridge was shut down for five months for repairs after being hit by a barge for the third time in five years.

I don’t think you can blame IDOT for barges hitting the bridge.

But downtown business people back in 2003 at least tried to rally support for faster repairs of bridge once it was hit.

The problem with fixing the downtown mechanical drawbridges is they were built in the 1930s, and they don’t make them like that anymore. When repair crews go to fix one problem, they inevitably find other problems. Then, to fix those problems they need new parts that need to be custom-made. And, there aren’t many companies making those parts, so it takes time to get them.

At least, that’s what IDOT says.

Bridges do seem to be a drawn-out business.

Remember, it’s taken almost five years just to get started on the Houbolt Road bridge.

NorthPoint has been talking about its bridge over Route 53 since 2017.

I wasn’t there when Joliet first was called the crossroads of mid-America, but I hope whoever said it didn’t say it was going to be easy.