The DeKalb City Council unanimously approved both an ordinance and a resolution Monday night at the Dekalb Municipal Building that paves the way for the Taylor Street Bridge Replacement Project.

The city will exchange a parcel of land on south Annie Glidden Road bordering Lion’s Park with the DeKalb Park District for a parcel of land currently part of Lion’s Park on west Taylor Street near the Taylor Street bridge. The land swap is part of a project to replace and enlarge the Taylor Street Bridge.

Council members agreed to exchange several parcels of property with the park district and waived the second reading.

The council also voted unanimously on a resolution authorizing Mayor Greg Sparrow to enter into an agreement with the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) to receive federal and state funding for the project.

The bridge will be four lanes wide, have sidewalks on both sides and be tall enough to accommodate the DeKalb Countywide Floodplain Plan that was revised in 2000 to allow a greater floodway passage when the Kishwaukee River overflows.

In 1997, the DeKalb Public Works Department applied for program funds to reconstruct the bridge, and in April of 1998, the city government received word that a $640,000 award would be forthcoming to finance the $1million project.

The estimated project cost has ballooned to $1.2 million because of the additional costs of designing a taller bridge, the necessity of relocating a sanitary district force main, relocating a city of DeKalb watermain and completing the fourth lane of Taylor east of the bridge.

Of that $1.2 million figure, the city is expected to pay only $535,000. A bid to do the work is anticipated in January of 2002.