Route 2 project expected to be done next month

STERLING – The contractor on the state Route 2 project had to remove small sections of the recently paved road this week because of a bad asphalt mix.

Northwest Illinois Construction expected to finish that do-over work for the east- and westbound lanes Thursday, said Bob Arnold, the company’s president.

The project should be done by Aug. 15, he said.

John Wegmeyer of the state Department of Transportation said both the contractor’s and the agency’s tests determined that some of the asphalt didn’t meet performance specifications, so the contractor needed to resurface those parts of the road.

Such a process isn’t unusual, Wegmeyer said, noting it happened on at least five other projects in the area this year.

“It’s not like mixing cement,” he said. “Asphalt is complex.”

Wegmeyer said the work is close to being done.

“The contractor is still well on schedule,” he said.

Now, Northwest Illinois Construction will have to do pavement markings.

The project, which started in May, involves a nearly 4-mile stretch of Route 2 from 45th Avenue in Sterling to west of Plock Road in Dixon. At times, the four-lane highway has been reduced to one lane in each direction.