If you regularly go down Riverside in Loves Park you may want to start looking for an alternate route. 

The bridge in question is the small one that goes over the creek that runs through Wantz Park. The bridge was built in 1960. It's too narrow for 4 lanes of traffic, even though everyone uses it as a 4-lane bridge. If you've tried to walk across it lately you know that there is barely any usable sidewalk left.

Awhile ago I found an interactive map where you could see how structurally sound any bridge in the county is.  According to that map this bridge is the second worst in the county, only better than the bridge at the bottom of the valley on Alpine Rd. between Aldeen park and State Street. No word on when that will be replaced.

Construction is set to begin sometime in June and is expected to last all the way to September at the earliest. An entire section of Riverside an 1/8 of a mile long will be closed. A new bridge will be installed that will be wide enough to safely accommodate 4 lanes of traffic.

If this is part of your daily route start planning now. It wouldn't be summer in Illinois without some inconvenient construction.

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