Driving on Harlem Avenue north of 26th Street is about to get a little more frustrating. A resurfacing project for the state route is scheduled to begin on Monday, April 16 and won’t be complete until late summer or early fall, said a spokesman for the Illinois Department of Transportation on Friday.
As road construction projects go, the Harlem Avenue one is not particularly extensive. According to Roman Meropolski, IDOT’s construction supervisor for central Cook County, deteriorated sections of curb and gutter will be replaced, some drainage structures will be cleaned and repaired and the entire roadway will be resurfaced.
The street should be open to traffic at all times during construction, said Meropolski, although lanes will be reduced to one in each direction in sections where work is being performed.
“We’ll have lane reductions during the day, but there will be no street closures unless we have to deal with structures in the middle of the road,” said Meropolski.
According to IDOT Engineer Orrin James, work will begin at 26th Street and move north, in sections, to limit its impact.
“We don’t want to block areas we’re not working in,” said James. “That wouldn’t be fair to the motoring public or to the businesses.”
The resurfacing project will move north through North Riverside, Berwyn, Forest Park, Oak Park and River Forest all the way to North Avenue. No work will be done between North Avenue and Belmont Avenue, since that portion was resurfaced last year.
Work will begin again north of Belmont and continue to Cullom Avenue.
