6-07-2021 3:31am

Hamborg Road repairs are completed

Michael McGinnis Editor

The Hamborg Road bridge reopened Wednesday afternoon, June 9, after less than four weeks of repairs.

The project was expected to be completed this weekend. Last week, Steve Schreier, Roscoe Township Highway Commissioner, told us, "Fiber wrap has been completed. Clean up will start on Monday and bridge should be open by end of this coming week."

Renée Behrens of Alliance Contractors the company that is doing the bridge work, told us last Thursday, "Weather permitting, the road will be open Friday June 11th."

Hamborg Road connects Belvidere Road and Elevator Road, making a jog at Burr Oak. Beginning on May 11, Roscoe Township had detoured traffic from Hamborg Road down Burr Oak to Atwood Road. Previous floods had chipped away the outer casing of the cement of the pylons of the bridge, which crosses the South Kinnikinnick Creek. The bid award and price for repairs will be approximately $112,000.

According to Schreier, workers found that, on the creek face of four out of the five columns, the concrete casing needed to be removed down to the pile encased inside the column. When the bridge was built, sturdy pilings were driven deep into the ground to support it. Schreier says, "The crew did a test location and found the pilings were in good condition. Also, the existing welded wire mesh was in good shape. The mesh helps provide a bond from the existing surface to the new shotcrete surface." Shotcrete technology uses compressed air to shoot concrete at high speeds. It is commonly used for bridges and swimming pools because it even works on vertical surfaces.

As of last Thursday, June 4, the shotcrete had been cured and the site was ready for its fiber wrap. The site was sufficiently dewatered by last Friday morning for the installation of the fiber wrap. The crew completed their final tasks on Wednesday, June 9.