Frankfort Commits $555,000 in Motor Fuel Tax Funds to Aberdeen Road Bridge

Frankfort Village Board Meeting | June 1, 2026

Article Summary: The Frankfort Village Board on Monday, June 1, 2026, adopted a resolution appropriating $555,000 in Motor Fuel Tax funds for professional engineering services tied to replacing the Aberdeen Road bridge in the Prestwick subdivision — a project the mayor said is expected to cost roughly $4 million overall.

Aberdeen Road Bridge Key Points:

• The resolution authorizes the mayor and clerk to execute a state-required IDOT Resolution for Improvement and Local Public Agency Engineering Services Agreement, appropriating $555,000 in Motor Fuel Tax funds for engineering.
• The work covers design engineering for replacing Structure 099-6017 on Aberdeen Road over a tributary of Hickory Creek (state Section No. 26-00058-00-BR).
• Robinson Engineering, Ltd., is the prime consultant, with HW Lochner, Inc., handling bridge design; the broader project is estimated at about $4 million.
• An Aberdeen Road resident used public comment to ask for a timeline; Mayor Keith Ogle said there is no hard date yet.

FRANKFORT — The Frankfort Village Board on Monday, June 1, 2026, took its next step toward replacing the Aberdeen Road bridge, adopting a resolution that appropriates $555,000 in Motor Fuel Tax funds for engineering work on the project.

The measure, presented by Trustee Dan Rossi and approved as part of the board’s 5-0 consent agenda, authorizes Mayor Keith Ogle and Village Clerk Katie Schubert to execute an Illinois Department of Transportation Resolution for Improvement under the Illinois Highway Code and a Local Public Agency Engineering Services Agreement. According to the packet, IDOT requires local governments to adopt those documents before tapping Motor Fuel Tax funds for eligible engineering and construction work.

The funds cover professional engineering services for the replacement of the bridge, which carries Aberdeen Road over a tributary of Hickory Creek within the Prestwick subdivision. State documents in the packet identify the span as Structure No. 099-6017 and the work as design engineering under Section No. 26-00058-00-BR. The village has budgeted Motor Fuel Tax funds for the project.

The packet shows Robinson Engineering, Ltd., serving as prime consultant on the engineering services agreement, with HW Lochner, Inc., responsible for the bridge design as a sub-consultant. The scope of work reaches well beyond drafting plans: it includes hydraulic modeling aimed at a “zero” rise in flood profiles, a floodway construction permit application to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources’ Office of Water Resources, wetland delineation by sub-consultant V3 Companies, and geotechnical work by sub-consultant Geocon Professional Services that calls for two soil borings down to bedrock — estimated at roughly 80 feet deep.

The bridge surfaced again during public comment, when a resident of Aberdeen Road approached the podium to ask for an update. Ogle said the board had that night passed the resolution authorizing the use of Motor Fuel Tax money and that the engineering firms were continuing their work, but he acknowledged the village does not yet have a firm timeline.

“We do not have a hard date at this point,” Ogle said, telling the resident the village remains “full force forward to get it done.”

The mayor put the overall scope in context, saying the broader effort is expected to cost about $4 million. He explained that a temporary bridge must be installed before the permanent replacement can be built. “It’s a complicated, expensive thing, but we are moving forward on all of this,” Ogle said.