Calhoun Street bridge re-opens in Morris

Morris Mayor Chris Brown, the Grundy County Chamber of Commerce, city employees, elected officials and representatives from D Construction, Chamlin & Associates, and the Grundy County Corn Festival braved the rain Wednesday to cut the ribbon on Calhoun Street Bridge.

The bridge, which crosses the I&M Canal, provides a link to Stratton Park, inland grain ports and Morris Public Works. Work began on Aug. 7 and truck traffic was diverted west to finish construction while barge traffic was still being diverted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which was repairing the locks along the Illinois River. This way, the grain ports wouldn’t be impacted as heavily by the construction.

“I am so excited to be here today for the reopening of the Calhoun Street Bridge,” Brown said. “This project was not only done on time, but it was completed and back in use with two weeks to spare. D Construction never lets us down. They have the expertise and the resources to get things done right, and in a time frame that exceeds expectations. I thank them and our engineers at Chamlin & Associates for all their efforts in completing this important piece of our infrastructure in such a timely fashion.”

Brown applauded D Construction and Chamlin & Associates for their hard work to not only complete the bridge before the locks re-open, but completing it two weeks early.

The bid for the Calhoun Street Bridge replacement was awarded for $512,179 to D Construction at the June 19 City Council meeting. It came in well under the budgeted amount of $1.1 million.