CME.06 – Replacement of the BNSF railroad bridge over Mill Street in Naperville, IL

• Alex Hernandez
• Josh Kasper
• Jorge Lares
• Julian Mejia
• Jacob Romanco

The University of Illinois at Chicago tasked our team with replacing the BNSF Railroad Bridge that runs over Mill Street in the City of Naperville, Illinois. The goal for this project is to provide a design and construction method for the bridge due to the reconstruction and widening of Mill Street that sufficiently accounts for safety, accessibility, geometric changes, and impacts of construction. Our focus includes minimizing disruptions to residents, businesses, and the railway throughout all phases of the project. Mill Street is a local road that runs north-south from DuPage County Highway 32 and to the T intersection of Jackson Avenue in downtown Naperville. In the vicinity north of the railroad bridge, there is Naperville North High School as well as a business park. In the vicinity south of the railroad bridge, there is a residential neighborhood as well as an auto repair shop. Due to the neighborhood and these facilities, Mill Street faces heavy traffic, causing the need to expand the roadway, and therefore requiring the replacement of the current bridge to fit the altered width of the road. The main challenges this project faces are due to the aforementioned facilities and neighborhood in the vicinity of the bridge. There will need to be traffic closures along Mill Street, and the construction faces constraints due to the right-of-way. Additionally, the bridge supports three tracks, owned by BNSF with shared ownership to Metra and Amtrak. The project aims to plan a construction method to reduce track closures through a shoofly bridge and the use of self-propelled modular transporters so as to not affect the transportation of freight and commuters that rely on these lines. Our group has delivered a detailed construction plan, bridge design, updated roadway profile, and impact study. These have been submitted in the form of a report, as well as a video, scientific poster, one-page handout, and drawings for the bridge cross-section and profile to detail the geometry, elevation, and roadway grades.