Foster Avenue Bridge construction continues

Added: 2026-05-22

[00:00:00]construction, still underway on the Foster Avenue Bridge construction project over I-90, but questions remain on when it will be completed. Weeks ago, we reported it will not be done on time.

[00:00:12]Brett Begansky has been pressing the Illinois Department of Transportation for several weeks now for answers. He brings us up to date on the shows and why there's even more delays.

[00:00:27]That's what we need to start doing in Chicago, getting things done. The burgers and fries are made in a timely fashion at Busta's in Jefferson Park.

[00:00:35]They're located on Elston Foster, 1 mile from the Foster Avenue Bridge, where it's been closed for about 1 and 1/2 years. Well, it's affected the business, but it doesn't help that customers now will take 20-25 minutes to arrive to the store right over the bridge, where it used to take about 6 minutes. Angelo and Christina Palivos said that time added up since construction began to a 30% drop in sales. Plenty of our customers that were weekly customers are now coming once a month due to the traffic and the long distance. Our crew was at the construction site 4 weeks ago on a Friday afternoon, and we didn't see anyone working. We'd like to know, like, who's in charge of this? You know, who's overseeing? Where's the oversight in this project? Because it's not it's definitely not on time. Bill Habettler from Habettler Bowl also is concerned by the lack of progress, especially after this sign went up saying the project is delayed once again to a new completion date on December 31st, 2026. We reported in November 2024 there was a delay due to weather, and IDOT construction document originally said it was supposed to be done May 31st plus 10 working days. After this sign went up, the on-ramp to the Kennedy Expressway going west has also been shut down. So, between all of these things happening at once, some residents and business owners had reached out to us to find out, "Why is this happening? Why are there so many delays? So, after weeks of pressing the Illinois Department of Transportation, we're finally getting some answers. In a statement, IDOT said crews discovered multiple unforeseen utility conflicts that require more utility relocations before actual construction could proceed. IDOT also said there were more complications with work on the CTA Blue Line and the Union Pacific Railroad, which are both operating during construction and they didn't want to interrupt busy travel times. We drive by it frequently.

[00:02:29]I've seen people working on occasion. Not daily, not even weekly.

[00:02:36]IDOT also said while you might not see people in the work zone, they could be working beneath the road, as well as working during the overnight hours.

[00:02:46]There's going to be more delays and we're looking probably at next year sometime.

[00:02:50]Yeah, so you're not confident they're going to be done by December 31st.

[00:02:52]>> Zero. Zero.

[00:02:54]Adelo said they aren't going anywhere, but because of this construction delay, he's had no choice but to pivot. Now we've we've been doing festivals. Uh this year we're actually doing two fest every weekend. So, it's been a a great addition, a lot of exposure. Brad Biganski, Fox Chicago.