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East Main Street Underpass breaks ground on Friday

Could it be? The East Main Street Underpass is finally breaking ground. 
Officials from the City of Galesburg, BNSF, engineering and construction firms and state representatives are expected to be in attendance at 10 a.m. on Friday Aug. 19 on the northwest corner of Main and Sumner.

A series of snafus pushed back bids being let out from late 2015 until finally June 2016.

Estimates have construction taking around 2 years to complete.

Construction could cause frustration for motorists who won’t be able to drive straight through East Main for a while but Mayor John Pritchard tells WGIL there are benefits once work is done.

“Obviously every time we complete one of these grade separations it improves getting around town,” Pritchard says. “Also it has the added benefit of providing quicker response times for emergency personnel.”

Pritchard also notes the construction jobs being created from the project.

Economically, Galesburg should also see benefits in an underpass allowing commerce to travel through town quicker.

East Main Street is the last in four grade separations funded by a capital bill Rep. Don Moffitt helped pass through the General Assembly in 1999.

The first was a bridge on Illinois Route 41 from Galesburg to Abingdon, and most recently the Don Moffitt Overpass and Bickerdyke Bridge.

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