Tuesday, January 22, 2013
The Plainfield Township highway department, engineers, contractor honored on Jan. 9.
It was a project more than two decades and $7.4 million in the making — but in October 2012, the Plainfield Township highway department unveiled the new, two-lane Renwick Road bridge. Now, the structure, which replaced a more than century-old bridge, is receiving accolades. Earlier this month, the project received a Project of the Year Award from the southwest branch of the Chicago Metro chapter of the American Public Works Association (APWA). Township highway department staffer Dick Anderson said the bridge was among 19 projects considered for the transportation award in the $5 to $25 million category. Township highway commissioner Sam Reichert, highway department staff members and representatives of project engineer Hutchison Engineering…
Monday, October 22, 2012
The project was decades in the making. On Friday, Plainfield Township's new two-lane bridge opened.
Residents and local officials gathered Friday morning to mark the end of the project that was years in the making as the new Renwick Road bridge opened to cars for the very first time. Plainfield Township Highway Commissioner Sam Reichert said the date — Oct. 19 — was significant: it marked exactly one year since construction began on the two-lane bridge. The new bridge will replace the century-old one-lane bridge, which closed to vehicle traffic immediately following a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the new bridge. Residents got to see the completed bridge for the very first time, and took some time to bike or stroll along the structure before it opened to vehicle traffic. The $7.4 million bridge is more than 623 feet long and 30 feet wide, …
Saturday, October 6, 2012
Two-lane bridge could open in mid- to late October, according to Plainfield Township Highway Commissioner Sam Reichert.
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Highway Commissioner Sam Reichert said the project is slightly ahead of schedule.
The two-lane replacement for the aging Renwick Road bridge could be completed as early as this month, according to Plainfield Township Highway Commissioner Sam Reichert. “It looks like it’s ahead of schedule,” he said. “They’re doing really good out there.” Little work remains, Reichert said, including painting the new bridge. “I’m hoping sometime in October we’re going to open,” he noted. “All that’s left is to make it look pretty,” noted engineer Craig Young of Hutchison Engineering. Sign up for Plainfield Patch’s daily newsletter and breaking news alerts. Construction began on the $7.4 million bridge last fall. The new bridge spans 644 feet over the DuPage River, with two lanes and a bike path. It replaces the one-lane bridge, built …
Friday, June 22, 2012
Gas stations were a family business for Sam Reichert Sr.
For more than a quarter century, motorists relied on Sam Reichert Sr. “The face of Plainfield” operated fuel stations — mainly Standard Oil stations — along Route 66 from 1955 to 1970. On June 9, his place in the history of “The Mother Road” was cemented as he was inducted into the Route 66 Hall of Fame in Pontiac, Illinois. Aided by Plainfield historian and architect Michael Lambert, Sam Reichert Jr. nominated his dad for induction. The younger Reichert said his father was chosen from a pool of 14 nominees for the honor. “He’s in the museum now,” Sam Jr. said, adding a shelf is now filled with photos and Standard Oil memorabilia from his father’s days working along the highway. “It’s really cool,” said Reichert Jr., who now serves as the …
Thursday, June 7, 2012
A construction vehicle carrying steel crossed the bridge Wednesday morning.
Updated at 10:25 a.m. June 7: Plainfield Township Highway Commissioner said state inspectors gave the OK Wednesday night to reopen the Renwick Road bridge after a construction truck drove across it. "It was open this morning," Reichert said Thursday. "Inspection went fine, so it's back open." Original story, June 6: Things just got a little more complicated for drivers already dealing with detours thanks to the closing of the Renwick and River roads intersection. As work continues on a replacement for the Renwick Road bridge, the one-lane structure is closed after a construction vehicle drove over it late Wednesday morning. “Apparently some large construction truck decided to drive over it,” Plainfield Police Sgt. Mike Fisher said. “He …
Thursday, May 17, 2012
The $7.4 million project is scheduled to be largely completed by November.
It was a project more than 20 years in the making, but work on a new structure to replace the century-old one-lane Renwick Road bridge is moving along quickly, officials say, with a planned completion date in November. But as road reconstruction begins, motorists who still use the historic bridge in their daily travels may want to find an alternate route. The intersection of Renwick and River roads is scheduled to close to through traffic from May 29 through mid-August. Craig Young of Hutchison Engineering said the existing bridge, built around 1912, will remain open, but detour signs will redirect traffic around the intersection. “You’ll still be able to cross the old bridge, but you’ll have to go south to Fraser Road to get to Route 59…
41.59341
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W Renwick Rd & S River Rd, Plainfield, IL
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Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Michael Lambert believes the newly discovered flagpole had been donated to the Plainfield Police Department for a dog training site.
Plainfield historian and architect Michael Lambert is siding with Plainfield Police Cmdr. Kevin Greco in the case of the mysterious flagpole. As you may recall, Midwest Brewers Fest workers found the pole last month while cleaning up the western bank of the DuPage River, near where the Electric Park grandstand once stood. Since then we've been trying to verify if it's a remnant from Plainfield’s old vacation resort of the early 1900s, as the brew fest crew postulated. Not likely, Lambert says. The pole probably dates back to a police dog training course, as Greco speculated, but Lambert places the K-9 program on the site in the early 1980s, rather than the '60s or '70s. The flagpole, Lambert says, is likely the one that Plainfield Township…
Old Lee
3:49 pm on Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Slow down Voice of Reason, it should only take about 20 years for each of those projects to get started! more ›