Montgomery awarded $2.5 million state grant for pedestrian bridge to span Route 30, link trails on village’s west side

The village of Montgomery has been awarded a $2.5 million grant to cover most of the cost of constructing a pedestrian bridge over Route 30 on the village’s west side.

The bridge is one of 72 transportation projects to receive a total of $127.9 million in grant funding through the Illinois Transportation Enhancement Program.

In announcing the grant awards April 7, Gov. JB Pritzker said in a statement the ITEP program is an important part of the state’s Rebuild Illinois public infrastructure program, which is “designed to support alternate modes of transportation, to preserve visual and cultural resources and improve quality of life.”

Montgomery’s planned pedestrian bridge will span Route 30 in an area just west of Rebecca Circle.

The village board positioned the village to receive the grant by voting unanimously last September to adopt a resolution authorizing the village’s ITEP grant application.

According to the resolution, the proposed pedestrian bridge will provide a “direct connection for residents to the Stuart Sports Complex, Orchard Road retail area, Orchard Road Regional Bike Trail, Virgil Trail Gilman Regional Bike Trail, Village of Montgomery Police Department, McDole Elementary School, Lakewood Creek Elementary School, eight residential subdivisions and several public parks and forest preserve areas.”

The resolution also states the village will cover its share of preliminary, design and construction engineering costs for the bridge along with construction-related expenses.

The Village Board voted unanimously in October to hire the village’s engineering consultants, Engineering Enterprises Inc. of Sugar Grove, at a cost of $216,452 for engineering design work for the bridge.

Peter Wallers, CEO and president of EEI, said the bridge will be designed to be wide enough to accommodate the eventual widening of the two-lane highway to five lanes and has an estimated construction cost of just over $3.4 million.

Wallers has said the bridge will be similar to a pedestrian bridge installed in 2011 on the Virgil L. Gilman Trail that spans Galena Boulevard on Aurora’s west side.

The other 71 projects selected for ITEP grants by the state include biking and walking paths, trails, streetscape beautification and other projects across the state designed to encourage safe travel across the various modes of transportation at the local level.