First Avenue will be closed to traffic from Monday, Sept. 15, to Monday, Sept. 22, to allow repairs to the Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad.
For the week, traffic will be rerouted around the closure from Ogden Avenue to Forest Avenue and Ridgewood Road so RoadSafe, a BNSF contractor, can fix up the railroad bridge that passes over First Avenue in between Parkview Avenue and Waubansee Road.
The closure will begin at 5 a.m. on the first day and last through 5 p.m. on the final day, according to Riverside’s online announcement.
The detour will take drivers west on either 31st Street or Ogden Avenue, depending on the direction they’re coming from, to LaGrange Road in LaGrange Park or LaGrange, respectively, said Tim Wiberg, Brookfield’s village manager, at the village board’s Sept. 8 meeting.
In statements on their websites, both Brookfield and Riverside have asked residents to expect longer travel time while heading to Riverside-Brookfield High School and Hollywood School as well as on Forest Avenue and Ridgewood Road and on Washington, Prairie and Maple avenues in Brookfield.
While northbound traffic will be fully prohibited, southbound traffic will be allowed from Waubansee Road to Ogden Avenue so residents of South Hollywood in Brookfield can exit the neighborhood. The only other way in or out of the area is by crossing the railroad at Hollywood Avenue.
Wiberg said Brookfield staff learned of the closure the morning of Sept. 8 and quickly reached out to BNSF to request the exception.
“We stressed to them the importance of people in the South Hollywood section. We know there’s lots of trains that go by, so Waubansee [Road] is the only way in and out of that area. If there’s an emergency, and there’s a train coming, we stressed that we have to have access to that neighborhood,” he said. “[Police] Chief [Michael] Kuruvilla has received word that that will be maintained.”
Wiberg acknowledged the weeklong road closure will be “very disruptive” for Brookfield residents.
“For the work on the bridge overpass, I’m not sure why it requires the extent of the street closures, but that’s what [BNSF is] choosing to do,” he said.
