The railroad bridge is the part of the Route 14 underpass anyone can see from the temporary roadway. A concrete pier now stands between the CN tracks, and the north abutment is close to finished. The work that shapes the drive along Hough Street this winter sits lower down. Crews are building a box culvert under Route 59 that will carry a relocated branch of Flint Creek. They are building it the only way a busy state route allows, one half of the street at a time.
That creek work is behind the changes to Hough Street, Lions Drive and the Shorely Wood entrance between now and spring.
Why a Railroad Project Has to Move a Creek First
The project puts Route 14 under the Canadian National tracks between Valencia Avenue and Hough Street. The road dips below grade to get there, and a stream already runs through that low ground. The design the village selected moves a Flint Creek tributary into new box culverts under both US 14 and Route 59.
The first of those crossings is done. The July 23, 2026 project update reported the US 14 culvert complete, which left the Route 59 crossing as the remaining piece of the creek work.
A road that sits below its surroundings also has to be kept dry. The November 4 update says crews have laid a substantial section of storm sewer along Route 14 between Hough Street and the Shorely Wood properties. It will carry stormwater from the bottom of the underpass to an Illinois Department of Transportation pump station. The pump station's building is largely complete, and electrical and HVAC work is underway inside. It sits at 117 E. Northwest Highway, just east of Jiffy Lube, according to an April 2025 notice in the Barrington Hills Observer.
The depth involved is considerable. John Vogelman, resident engineer with Itasca-based Civiltech Engineering, told the Daily Herald in June that after the Route 59 culvert, "we need to construct a deep storm sewer that's 30-feet deep that will drain the underpass."
Hough Street, One Half at a Time
Through the fall, the Route 59 culvert has shaped the Hough Street intersection. The September 21 update listed two pieces of traffic control in place while crews dug out the west half of the culvert:
- A temporarily shortened northbound left-turn lane from Hough Street onto Route 14.
- A temporary closure of Lions Drive at Hough Street, with Barrington Park District visitors still able to reach Lions Drive from Route 14.
That update aimed to finish the west half near the end of October, restore the roadway, and then do this:
"Currently, we anticipate shifting traffic onto the restored western half of Hough Street and reopening access to Lions Drive ahead of Thanksgiving."
The west half is finished. By November 4, the culvert's western half was complete and backfilled. Curb and roadway base were scheduled next, followed by paving and striping in mid-November.
The November update also spells out the rest of the plan. After paving, traffic moves onto the west side of Hough Street and the east side closes so crews can build the second half of the culvert over the winter. The Thanksgiving milestone marks the switch to the other half of the street. Hough Street runs on half its width until the eastern half of the creek crossing is built.
The November update doesn't give a new date for Lions Drive. The most recent stated target is still September's "ahead of Thanksgiving," and the Route 14 entrance has been the stated way in for park visitors throughout.
The order of events at the intersection, as the November update lays it out:
- Curb and roadway base go in on the restored west half.
- Paving and striping follow in mid-November.
- Traffic shifts onto the west side of Hough Street.
- The east side closes, and crews build the second half of the Route 59 culvert through the winter.
The project says alerts and revised traffic-pattern visuals will go out before any of these changes take effect.
The Other Change Before Thanksgiving Is at Shorely Wood
A short way east along Route 14, the Shorely Wood properties are getting a new entrance. Crews have started demolition and grading for the new drive location, and permanent paving inside Shorely Wood is planned over the coming weeks. Once that paving is done and a temporary drive extension connects to the temporary Route 14 roadway, traffic will move to the new access point. As of November 4, that shift was expected before Thanksgiving.
Both of these pre-holiday changes come from the same work. The storm sewer between Hough Street and Shorely Wood, the culvert under Hough, and the new Shorely Wood drive all deal with water and access at the low end of the project, close to the Route 59 intersection.
What Stays the Same Around the Library and Citizens Park
The everyday arrangement west of Hough Street is unchanged. Route 14 traffic, all four lanes, runs on a temporary road built just north of the old alignment between the Barrington Area Library and Route 59. According to the project FAQ, the setup includes:
- Speed limit: reduced from 35 mph to 30 mph on the temporary roadway.
- Pedestrians: a temporary sidewalk behind an IDOT-approved concrete barrier connects Route 59 with Citizens Park and the Library.
- Screening: an 8-foot wood fence separates the work from the Jewel Park neighborhood.
- Citizens Park: a temporary two-lane road links Lake Zurich Road and the park entrance to the temporary Route 14.
- Trucks: an IDOT weight limit on the existing Route 14 bridge over Flint Creek, just west of the tracks, sends overweight trucks on a detour via Dundee Road and Route 59 until the permanent roadway is complete.
That weight limit is another place where the creek shows up in the project. The permanent road is what lets heavy trucks back onto Route 14 through town.
The temporary road came out of a hard closure last year. In September 2025, a traffic notice in the Barrington Hills Observer announced that Route 14 would close from north of Valencia to Hough Street for railroad and temporary-road work, with traffic detoured over Route 59 and Main Street. By June 2026, the Daily Herald noted that drivers were using the temporary roadway.
Above the Creek, the Bridge Keeps Moving
The bridge has made steady progress too. As of November 4, the north bridge abutment was substantially complete and the center pier's concrete had been poured. Once those cure and the formwork comes down, sheeting and excavation for the south abutment begin later this month. Vogelman told the Daily Herald that one of the job's main challenges is digging large pits for the abutments next to a live railroad track while trains keep running.
The bridge exists because of those trains. In a January 2024 Daily Herald report, the old EJ&E line averaged five short freight trains a day before Canadian National bought it. After the purchase, traffic rose past 20 trains a day, and those trains averaged more than three times the earlier length. On June 12, 2018, a stalled train blocked all four Barrington crossings at Main Street, Hough Street, Northwest Highway and Lake Zurich Road for nearly an hour, and the Daily Herald reported that ambulances headed to Good Shepherd were delayed. The Route 14 crossing alone carries nearly 30,000 vehicles a day, according to the Daily Herald's June 2026 report.
Preliminary engineering started in 2012, and IDOT approved the design in 2014. The winning construction bid in November 2024 came in at $69.4 million. The Daily Herald reported its funding shares, in rounded figures, as 80% federal, 13% IDOT, 7% from the Illinois Commerce Commission's Grade Crossing Protection Fund, and less than 1% from the Village of Barrington. In June 2026, the Daily Herald said construction was expected to finish next year, which puts the projected end in 2027.
Before that, the eastern half of the Hough Street culvert has to be built under traffic this winter, the south abutment has to go in next to the tracks, and the deep storm sewer has to connect to the pump station on Northwest Highway. Traffic alerts and the monthly updates are posted at us14underpass.com, and the Barrington Hills Observer reposts each update.
If you're planning a move, a closing date, or showings near Hough Street and Route 14 this winter, the construction calendar is worth checking before you set those dates. Connie Antoniou and our team follow these updates closely and are glad to talk through how the work around the Library, Citizens Park and Shorely Wood fits your plans. Let's Connect.