July 26, 2024
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With pact approved, Montgomery set to receive Kendall County grant for Route 30 pedestrian bridge project

By John Etheredge
The red dashed line above indicates the 200 foot section of a proposed shared use path that the village of Montgomery plans to construct using a combination of village funds and a $30,030 grant from Kendall County. (Map courtesy of the village of Montgomery)

The red dashed line above indicates the 200 foot section of a proposed shared use path that the village of Montgomery plans to construct using a combination of village funds and a $30,030 grant from Kendall County. (Map courtesy of the village of Montgomery)

The village of Montgomery is set to receive a $30,030 grant from Kendall County to help pay for a section of a shared use path that will one day provide walkers, runners and cyclists with access to a proposed pedestrian bridge that will span Route 30 on the village’s far west side.

In a unanimous ballot April 24, the Village Board approved a resolution authorizing the village to enter into an intergovernmental agreement with the county to receive the grant from the county’s Transportation Alternatives Program (TAP).

The county’s TAP program is funded through a 0.5% transportation sales tax.

The grant will pay for half of the $60,060 estimated cost to the village to construct a 200 foot section of path across the Commonwealth Edison right-of-way south of Route 30. The path section will connect an existing path located in the right-of-way to the approach for the pedestrian bridge over the highway.

Village President Matt Brolley extended his thanks to Kendall County officials for awarding the grant to the village.

“I really appreciate their program to provide 50% (funding),” Brolley said.

Sonya Abt, the village’s community development director, said the path section will be installed prior to the installation of the bridge.

The county’s grant follows a $2.5 million grant awarded to the village April 7 by the state of Illinois that will pay most of the cost of constructing the pedestrian bridge.

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.

The village board voted 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.