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Two St. Charles bridges are in line for some needed repairs.
The City Council approved a $51,000 contract on Sept. 21 to design fixes for the Illinois Street bridge, which crosses the Fox River downtown and connects to the Fox River Trail. Planned work covers the bridge's road surface, curbs, and sidewalk.
Separately, the city is working on a long-term fix for the rusting railings on the Red Gate Road bridge.
Here's what to know:
Downtown bridge work: Repairs planned for the Illinois Street bridge include patching worn sections of the bridge surface, plus curb repair, sidewalk repair, and general maintenance. The city says the final list isn't limited to those items. The city added bike lanes to the bridge in 2025.
The consultant contract: Alfred Benesch and Company was selected over one other firm that applied in August. The company has handled the city's bridge inspections since 2017 and recently designed and oversaw repairs on the Prairie Street Bridge.
Red Gate's rust problem: The railings on the Red Gate bridge, which opened in 2012, have been rusting and staining the concrete (the city said it’s cosmetic, not a safety hazard). The city hired Benesch to reevaluate the project and find cost-effective options for fixing the railings. Work is targeted for summer 2027.
City documents show that design on Illinois Street is expected to be mostly finished by the end of the city's current budget year, with repairs to be budgeted the following year.
The contract for that bridge also gives the city the option to extend Benesch's work into a later project phase.
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