Village Has New Hope for Start Date of Boughton Construction

Good news for frequent travelers of Boughton Road: Bolingbrook Mayor Roger Claar said the Illinois Department of Transportation has bid out the Boughton Road construction project and IDOT officials have told Claar they plan on expediting the process so crews can begin as quickly as possible.

That means instead of construction workers beginning the project next spring, which Claar had hinted at in late-September, work could begin as soon as a few weeks.

Still, the start date is up in the air. But Claar said he still hopes that the road could be fixed by the end of this year.

The village had been to bid out the contract. 

The village has been planning the $3 million project since February. Ultimately, the entire eastbound portion of Boughton Road from Sunshine Drive to Schmidt Road will be repaved in efforts to fix the rough portion of road. 

Claar said an underground ComEd junction box has caused the eastbound lanes of Boughton Road to become bumpy each and ever winter for the past several years.

When retail giants such as ,  and  began building on Bolingbrook’s west side, village officials quickly widened Boughton Raod to accommodate the spike in traffic.

But just a few years later, ComEd officials cut into the road to install a junction encasement that was required to provide enough power to the expanding west side of town.

That construction produced cracks in the road, which allowed water to seep in. When mixed with freezing temperatures each winter, that moisture froze and expanded, causing the land underneath Boughton Road to shift.

The village received a $2 million federal grant to help complete the project. Claar said the village still needs to sit down with ComEd officials to seek out financial relief from the electrical company.

Claar said the project, when started, will take about two or three weeks to complete.

If delayed, Bolingbrook motorists will likely be dealing with another winter of bumpy Boughton Road.

"We'll be cutting it close," he said.

Do you think Boughton Road is in need of construction? Why or why not?