QUINCY: Residents and employees in the Broadway construction project’s first phase are eagerly awaiting its conclusion.
According to Kelly Flora of Bruening Heating and Air Conditioning, Rees Construction assured Muddy River News that they will be completed by August 1. Every client who has visited since the work started has described it as challenging.
primarily due of the parking. Due to construction workers and equipment occupying the side streets on each side of Broadway, Bruening, 1857 Broadway, depends on street parking, which has been scarce.
Flora is aware of the importance of replacing water pipes that are over a century old, though. She also enjoyed watching a worker install a new sidewalk directly in front of the store.
As her clients made their way to the display room, she was thankful that they had figured out that the closed-to-through traffic signs did not apply to them. “I know they have to work and be here,” she continued. Bruening provided substitutes like phone and email orders. However, she clarified, people want to see for themselves.
Since April, traffic on Broadway between 12th and 24th Streets has been limited to one lane in each direction and moving at slower speeds. At the Broadway crossroads, cross streets 13th, 15th, and 17th have also occasionally been closed. Some cars appeared perplexed by the recent closure of the 18th Street crossroads with Broadway.
On Monday, MRN saw a line of vehicles navigating past the road closure signs to turn onto Broadway via 18th. A few bravely drove onto Broadway. Others turned around. U-turns are rather regular throughout the day in the area, according to longtime homeowners.
It has been fascinating. According to resident Sherry Kemner, several of the well-traveled paths have proven difficult. I try to take a different route. I take a different route. I see a different area of town, but it takes me a little longer.
Alleyways are often the sole route around detours. But she doesn’t have that option. I don’t have an alley, but I do have two driveways. It’s definitely simpler for the older people because I don’t go to work every day. I simply ask for patience. Eventually, it will all be over.
Phase 2 was scheduled to start around August 4 when crews shift their focus to Broadway between 24th and 30th Streets, according to the most recent report.
Customers wishing to visit establishments on the south side of this section of Broadway will only be able to access the alleys, and drivers will need to get used to traveling east in the center turn lane.
While Ben Besse and Adam Smith assisted a friend with yard work at 22nd and Spring, MRN spoke with them.
Despite having a wheelbarrow full of supplies, they chose to walk rather than drive despite though their homes are only a few blocks away.
“With all the gravel and stuff like that, it’s been a little rough crossing the streets,” Besse said. No (curb) ramps can be found anywhere.
Smith went on to say, “It’s just bumps and tons of dirt everywhere.”
Driving, however, is said to be even riskier.
“We witnessed two consecutive wrecks on Broadway the last time I was there,” Smith said. And the sole main road had only one line. For a typical 10-minute commute, it took us 30 minutes to get home.
Kirkland Burton stopped by the gas station at 18th and Broadway and offered some amiable counsel. You need to have a strategy and two or three backup plans.
He took the infant to daycare on 12th Street and commuted to high school on 36th Street.
It simply adds a minute or two, at most.
All those who paused to speak with us agreed that construction is an unavoidable evil.
Smith said, “I’ve lived here my entire life, and there’s always construction.” I’ve become somewhat accustomed to it. All year long, there is building. It will be the road over there if it’s not this one.
“I just try to avoid it,” Besse said. Go the extra mile.
The initial plans were for construction to continue until early October. In late 2025, the Illinois Department of Transportation plans to reopen Broadway, also called Illinois 104.
