Beginning Wednesday, Sept. 7, Milwaukee Avenue will be closed at Kilbourn Avenue for the remainder of the year as part of Metra’s project to replace the bridge over the roadway and rebuild the Grayland Station.
Signs noting the closure and detour routes for vehicular, bicycle and pedestrian traffic will be posted throughout the area by Tuesday, Sept. 6 and closures will begin the morning of Wednesday, Sept. 7. The road is expected to be closed at this location until the end of 2022.
Southeast-bound vehicular traffic on Milwaukee Avenue will be rerouted south on Cicero Avenue and east on Addison Street back to Milwaukee Avenue. Northwest-bound traffic will be diverted west on Addison and north on Cicero to Milwaukee. Bicycle and pedestrian traffic will be rerouted along Addison Street and Kilbourn Avenue, and protected bike lanes will be erected on Addison during the closure.
Metra is in the middle of a $36.1 million project to replace the 123-year-old bridge that carries the Milwaukee District North Line over Milwaukee near Kilbourn. As part of this project, Grayland Station, just south of the bridge, will be rebuilt with longer platforms, new public address equipment, visual information signs, shelters with on-demand heat on each side, new lighting and new stairs and ramps, making it fully ADA-compliant.
The project is funded with $13.1 million from the Federal Transit Administration, $17.8 million from the Federal Railroad Administration, $2.3 million from Canadian Pacific, and $2.9 million in other Metra funding. IHC Construction Companies of Elgin is the contractor performing work, which is expected to be complete in the spring of 2024.