The new Joliet City Square will open as promised next week for the Light Up the Holidays Festival and Parade but with limited access as construction runs longer than originally planned and at a higher cost.

Construction delays and contractor change orders that increase the city’s cost have been primarily because of underground discoveries that have included trolley tracks, elevator cars and a 5,000-gallon fuel tank left behind during more than a century and a half of downtown building and demolition.

The square, along with Chicago Street improvements and utility upgrades, originally was planned to be fully open by the end of this year at a cost of $20.1 million.

Opening date for the full square now is planned for April 1, and construction so far has cost almost $22 million.

“Right now, our change order percentage is just under 10%, which is a lofty goal in construction,” Project Manager Lisa Dorothy said. “You aim at 15%.”

Change orders amend a construction contract when the scope of work goes beyond what was in the original bid for the job.

Dorothy, a civil engineer for the city of Joliet, said the industry standard is to keep change orders at between 10% and 20% of the original bid.

The City Council this week approved a $580,000 change order for City Square contractor Austin Tyler Construction.

A $1.3 million change order was approved in April.

Almost all the additional work was due to the removal of debris from past downtown demolition and dismantling as construction crews went underground to install electrical and water lines supplying the square.

“When you’re working in an area that is 150 years old or more like you are in downtown Joliet, you’re going to run into issues with underground excavation,” city Public Works Director Greg Ruddy said.

Even so, the Light Up the Holidays Festival and Parade on Nov. 28 will give festival-goers some access to the square and a good sense of what it will look like in the spring.

Here’s what Light-Up festival-goers can expect on:

• Access to the east stretch of the new square Chicago Street lined with shaded seating areas
• A boxed-out area where people can gather around the city Christmas tree, already installed, for the annual lighting ceremony
• New pavers along the section of Chicago Street between the square and Rialto Square Theatre
• A view of the greenery provided by artificial turf that has been recently installed but will be fenced off during the festival
• Illumination from new lights installed along Chicago Street for a streetscape improvement project designed to complement the new square

Dorothy said turning on the new streetlights is not yet a sure thing, but she does expect it to be done by Nov. 28.

“We really want to have the new lights turned on,” she said.

Like other aspects of the project, the streetlight electricity has been affected by what’s been found beneath the street surface.

“We’ve had significant delays in construction with our underground utilities,” Dorothy said.

Among the underground discoveries have been tracks remaining from the electric trolleys that once ran through downtown and are portrayed in a popular exhibit at the Joliet Area Historical Museum.

Some of the biggest underground finds have been on the north end of the square along Clinton Street where construction crews discovered much of a building that was demolished decades ago.

“We were not digging up earth,” Dorothy said. “We were digging up old building.”

Besides rubble, there were old elevator cars and a 5,000-gallon fuel tank that had to be inspected by the state fire marshal’s office before being removed.

Dorothy, a civil engineer for the city who also was project manager for the development of the city’s Gateway Center hub for public transit, acknowledged that the city has missed its initial target for opening the square by Jan. 1, 2026 for the centennial year of the Route 66 highway.

But she said the project still is within reasonable range for Route 66 events.

“I know we have some events for the end of April,” Dorothy said. “The construction should be done by then.”