Pictured, Route 3 passes over a shared-use path near Library Street in Waterloo. The Route 3 improvement project includes the construction of the bridge over the path.
(Alan Dooley photo)

Work is progressing on the widening of Route 3 and other highway improvements in Waterloo as the project remains on schedule to be completed by the end of this year.

An Illinois Department of Transportation engineer told the Republic-Times the main part of the shared-use path underpass near Library Street will be completed within the next few weeks, although the path will not be accessible until the entire project is nearly completed later this year.

Work on the roundabout to be installed outside the Monroe County Farm Bureau office on Route 156 at Lakeview Drive is anticipated to begin this fall, according to the IDOT project page on their website.

Also yet to be installed is a new stoplight at Illinois Avenue near the ambulance garage. The next work items on the project are the rock base, concrete curb and asphalt widening on the east side of Route 3 for the three-mile length of the project.

Illinois Avenue is back open to traffic following work recently conducted there.

IDOT said no date has been set, but Route 156 on the east side of Route 3 (Park Street) will be closed for approximately two months to complete new storm sewer, rock base, concrete curb and asphalt pavement.

In total, the entire Route 3 project involves 4.3 miles of roadway from North Market Street to just south of South Market Street. The cost of the project is $21.2 million. The relocation of Vandebrook Drive to connect with South Market as part of the project was already completed last summer.

The current two-lane highway is being reconstructed into a five-lane thoroughfare with turn lanes or medians installed as required.

Other features include the 10-foot-wide shared use path for walkers and bicyclists and the roundabout near the Farm Bureau.

The project is broken into three phases. The first phase, which included preliminary engineering, collecting data and creating a project report, took about two years.

Phase II was where plans, specifications and estimates were prepared, bids were sought, and right-of-ways and easements were purchased. It took about two years and was completed in June 2013.

The third phase of the project has been the construction phase. This is the current and final phase of the project. It began in early 2014 and is estimated to be completed in the estimated time frame of 24 to 36 months.

For more on IDOT’s Route 3 improvement project, visit online at www.idot.illinois.gov/projects/il-3-project.