Sullivan Road Bridge Over the Fox River

The Sullivan Road Bridge is only the second new bridge built in Kane County since the early 1970s. The bridge is a major crossing over the Fox River, connecting Illinois Route 25 on the east side of the river to Illinois Route 31 on the west side of the river. The Sullivan Road Bridge completion brings improved traffic flow and the promise of vital new business, jobs and development to the region. HR Green performed construction observation services for the Sullivan Road Bridge. HR Green’s resident engineer was responsible for all project-related documentation, processing all pay requests and change orders, generating weekly reports and coordinating required project meetings.

The new bridge consists of five spans of steel beams supporting four 12-foot lanes, a concrete median and sidewalk, and new street lighting. Bringing traffic to the bridge is new bituminous pavement from Illinois Route 31 and new P.C.C. pavement from Illinois Route 25, both consisting of four 12-foot lanes with left and right turn lanes. Almost a mile of bituminous pavement on Route 25, with an open-ditch drainage system, was replaced with new P.C.C. pavement, curb and gutter and new storm sewers.

Working with the City, HR Green met each construction challenge and found cost-saving innovations as well. By performing additional soil borings at minimal cost to the City, the HR Green team was able to accurately establish the limits of hazardous waste removal. This resulted in a substantial reduction in the amount of hazardous waste removal and the elimination of half the amount of sheet piling to be installed. The savings to the City of Aurora was more than $500,000. The team also eliminated a retaining wall identified in the project documents at a dump site and replaced it with an environmentally friendly grassy sloped surface. This innovation netted another savings of $200,000.

Due to the various funding sources and entities involved, including the City of Aurora, the Village of North Aurora, the Illinois Department of Transportation, the Army Corps of Engineers, the Kane-DuPage Soils and Water Conservation District, the BNSF Railroad, and the Fox Valley Park District, a significant amount of correspondence was involved to keep the project moving forward.

HR Green provided funding assistance on the project and assisted in securing Federal CMAQ and HPP funds in excess of $2 million towards the successful completion of this $14 million project.