Crews reopened Stearns School Road in Gurnee on Monday after repairs to a failed culvert and pavement collapse were completed earlier than expected, officials said.
The Lake County Division of Transportation (LCDOT) reopened Stearns School Road between Hutchins Road and Hunt Club Road to all traffic.
The roadway was closed on March 25 after a culvert, which allows water to flow under a road, was found to be failing.
Soon after the road was closed in March, the pavement collapsed at the site of the failed culvert on Stearns School Road near Mill Creek Drive.
The Lake County Division of Transportation said they began research into the fastest and most effective way to acquire the materials, develop design plans, secure permits and stage necessary construction activities.
Officials said that typically the design, fabrication and construction would take a number of months to complete, but they worked to accelerate the schedule through a two-staged approach.
That approach includes stage one, which was the emergency replacement of the failed culvert and pavement that began on May 7 and finished on Monday.
Stage two, which is the design and permitting for a new single-span bridge, is currently in progress. This phase is expected to take between 12-16 months to complete and will begin in 2022.
Stage two will require a road closure again but will occur after the Illinois Tollway’s bridge project on Stearns School Road over Interstate 94 is complete.
“We thank everyone for their patience over the past two months. Stearns School Road over Mill Creek is now open!” the Lake County Division of Transportation said.