Frequently Asked Questions

The project connects with Routes 25 and 31, both of which are State Routes and important highways.

There are no plans to design or build a facility with four-lane capacity.

The bridge is designed to accommodate the traffic that is projected for the year 2030. The traffic studies indicate that this will require a two lane bridge. Once built, the project will be a link within a network of two lane roads. It would not be practical to place a short section of a four-lane facility within a network of two-lane roads. These two factors warrant a two lane facility.

The bridge piers that must be built in the river will be designed and constructed to minimize the impacts to the flow characteristics of the river and impacts to the river ecosystems. There will be some construction activities that will be performed in the river in order to build the bridge. These construction activities will be controlled and performed in ways that will minimize the release of sediment into the river.

Altering the channel depth or shape in the area around the bridge would change the flow characteristics of the river. Dredging the channel could slow the flow of the river at this location and could have environmental impacts to the river ecosystem. There is no plan to dredge the channel.

The bridge type study is not yet complete and several profiles for the bridge are still being considered. The relationship between the height of the bridge above the water and the cost of the project is being evaluated to select the most cost effective structure.

Just north of the proposed location the river becomes too shallow for large motorized watercraft such as the St. Charles Belle paddle wheel river boats; however, the river is suitable for canoes and smaller boats at this location. As stated above, the piers will be spaced about 150 feet apart. The clearance will be a minimum of 12 feet over normal water level. This design follows the standards for bridge design as directed by the Illinois Department of Transportation and would allow current boating uses to continue.

Yes, the river is about 500 feet wide at the bridge location. The bridge must span the river and also 500 feet over the floodplain on the east bank. The bridge type study has not been completed, but the piers will likely be spaced about 150 feet apart. This will require three piers in the river and another four piers over the floodplain.

The main reason that steel was chosen is that the end spans of the bridge are curved. Steel girders can be curved to match the curve of the roadway; precast concrete girders cannot be curved. Precast girder bridges built in short, straight segments with a pier at each “kink” in the beam line, and the bridge deck is built in a curve on top of the girders. Constructing a curved roadway on straight precast concrete girders would require at least one additional pier.

A second reason that steel was chosen is that steel girders are built in relatively short sections in a fabrication plant and then transported to the site and bolted together to make up any span length. These short sections can be designed so that they can be easily transported to the site. For instance, a 150-foot long span could be made of two 75-foot long girder sections that are bolted together at the site. Concrete girders must be built in one single piece. Concrete spans greater than 125 feet have been constructed, but it is very difficult to transport concrete girders this long. Transporting two 75-foot girders through an urban area is much easier than transporting a single 150-foot long girder.

One last reason that steel was chosen is that steel is a recycled and recyclable material. The steel used on this project will come from bridges and buildings that have been demolished, old cars, and even soup cans from your recycling bin. When this bridge has finally lived its useful life, the girders will be recycled to make other bridges, buildings, automobiles, and soup cans. When concrete girders are demolished, the reinforcing steel is recycled, but the crushed concrete is only useful as fill material.

The engineering team looked the following design elements:

• Girder type (precast concrete or steel)
• Girder size (longer spans require larger girders)
• Span lengths
• Bridge height over the river
• Girder spacing

Over 1,500 different combinations of these elements were compared by cost and narrowed down to a small group of feasible bridge types. This group was studied in detail considering additional factors such as:

• Future maintenance costs
• Environmental issues
• How the cost of the entire project was affected by the bridge alternate
• Aesthetic considerations

Out of this more detailed analysis a single bridge type was developed. The optimum bridge type is the alternate that is cost effective to build and maintain, creates the least impact on the environment, and provides the greatest opportunity for aesthetic enhancement.

The preferred bridge type for this project will be five steel girders and eight spans. There will be seven piers in total with three of these in the river, one on the west bank, and three on the east bank. The end spans will be 120 feet long and all the interior spans will be 150 feet long. The two-lane roadway will have a total deck width of 32 feet from curb to curb.

There will be about 18 feet between the bike bridge deck and the bottom of the highway bridge girders. There will also be a minimum of ten feet of headroom as the bridge passes through the piers.

The bridge will be twelve feet wide, which is adequate to allow bikes to pass pedestrians. Most bike paths in the area are only ten feet wide.

 Making the highway bridge narrower will reduce theamount of structural steel used by about 200 tons, concrete by about 650 cubic yards (1,300 tons), and excavation by about 10,000 cubic yards of earth. This will save about $1,500,000 from the cost of the highway bridge. The cost of adding a cable supported pedestrian bridge below the highway bridge is also estimated to cost about $1,500,000. The cost of building a sidewalk on the bridge and the cost of providing a separate cable supported pedestrian bridge are essentially the same. See Question #1 above for reasons that make a separate bridge a better choice than adding a sidewalk to the bridge.

There are several reasons that make sense to hang the pedestrian bridge below the highway bridge.

• The experience of using the bridge will be enhanced by separating the pedestrian and bike bridge from the vehicle traffic and placing the bridge closer to the water. It is the hope of the City and the designers that walkers and cyclists will slow down and have a chance to observe the river from the vantage point of the bridge.
• The safety of the pedestrians and bicyclists using the bridge is greatly improved by separating them from the vehicle traffic.
• This concept makes the whole bridge narrower and reduces the footprint of the structure in the river and on the land. The reduced footprint creates less impact on the river and creates less shade on the banks.

Stearns Road is a regional bridge that will carry traffic from Randall Road to Route 59 and beyond.

Red Gate is a local crossing that will carry local traffic. The traffic studies indicate that 48% of the trips that cross the bridge will begin AND end within five miles of the bridge. Another 50% will either begin OR end with that area, and the remaining 2% will be passing through. This indicates that the bridge will be used primarily by local traffic.

By the Year 2030, traffic in the St. Charles area is expected to double, and on some corridors, nearly triple. The Red Gate crossing would work in conjunction with other improvements to accommodate future traffic volumes and provide connections in northern St. Charles.

Improving the existing street network will not meet the Purpose and Need established for this project. This solution would not enhance connections to destinations in the northern St. Charles area, would not improve emergency response times to those areas, and would not complete the gaps in the transportation system.

This project would provide for improved emergency response for all the residents in northern St. Charles and the surrounding communities, not just the Village of Wayne. The improvements in emergency response to northern St. Charles and surrounding areas is just one benefit of the project. However, improving emergency services can have many benefits, including economic benefits. Communities that invest in firefighting services see benefits in the form of lower insurance premiums.

Furthermore, it is estimated that it costs approximately $5,500,000 to build a new fire station and another $1,200,000 each year to staff and maintain. The cost to build, staff, and maintain an additional fire station for twenty years adds up to nearly $30 million (not including inflation).

The intersection of Randall and Red Gate Roads is under the jurisdiction of the Kane County Division of Transportation. KDOT has a project in place to improve this intersection by 2007. Permanent traffic signals will be installed as part of this project and turn lanes will be added to Red Gate Road.

The current plan does not contemplate Red Gate Road or Route 31 being expanded to a 4 lane roadway. Further, the City’s 4 year budget does not contemplate the capital project improvement. Because the Red Gate Bridge is proposed to be a 2 lane river crossing (similar to the Prairie Street Bridge) it would seem unlikely that the adjacent roadways would be expanded to multiple lanes.

 Any plan to revise traffic patterns on State Routes must consider both car and truck traffic. Second Street (Route 31) and Main Street (Route 64) are designated truck routes, Illinois and Prairie Streets are not. Forcing all traffic from SB Route 31 to cross the river on the Illinois and Prairie Street bridges would place truck traffic on local streets and does not provide a route for trucks to get back to Main Street and continue east.

On several days each month, the teachers at St. Charles North High School participate in an early morning program called "Education Through Cooperation (ETC)". This program includes meetings and training for teachers. On these days the students arrive at school approximately one hour later than the normal starting time of 7:20 AM.

Manual traffic counts for the Red Gate Bridge project were taken from 6 AM to 6 PM on 1/12/2005 and 1/25/2005. On both of these days school started at the normal time. Machine counts were taken between 5 PM on 1/26 and 5 PM on 1/27. January 26 was an ETC day, but because the counts were not started until after school was dismissed, the late start did not affect the traffic counts. School started at the normal time on 1/27.

RHA performs traffic counts for many different clients. Our crews were out in the area counting traffic on Red Gate Road on 5/18 for a different client. On that day, the students started classes late due to ETC.

No, a formal origin and destination study was not conducted. Travel patterns were determined using the Kane County 2030 Transportation Model, which uses year 2030 population, employment, and land use data for the region as prepared by the Northern Illinois Planning Commission (NIPC). The results of the traffic modeling were reviewed by the Illinois Department of Transportation and the Chicago Area Transportation Study (the Metropolitan Planning Organization for the Chicago region). Both agencies have concurred with the findings of the traffic modeling.