Road work, public works building on village’s summer schedule

Road work, public works building on village’s summer schedule
By Bob Balgemann
Reporter
Plans are in the works for summer of 2019 projects, ranging from road improvements to a new home for the village’s public works department.
Resolutions calling for bids for the road work were approved by the village board on April 1. Also that night the board authorized the engineering and architectural services necessary to build the new public works facility.
Here are some of the projects on the table for the coming summer:
* Gregory Drive. This calls for construction of the Gregory Drive extension, a total of 960 feet, from its current terminus to the north. The project includes new story sewer and storm sewer management, new curb and gutter, pavement and assorted restoration.
* Burden Road. The scope of this project is reconstruction of Burden Road between Forest Hills Road and the Illinois 251 service drive. Included is new storm sewer and storm water management, new curb and gutter, pavement and associated restoration.
* Stonehenge Drainage Improvements. This project includes a new storm sewer along Elm Avenue, Ashdown, Knightsbridge, Eddington, Bunting and Colchester, to remedy flooding on those streets. The work also calls for repairs to curb and gutter and sidewalks, as well as the removal and replacement of deficient sidewalk ramps.
Finally, that project includes resurfacing of Ashtown, Tetterhall, Knightsbridge, Eddington, Colchester and Windbourne/Bunting, between Elm and Colchester.
Pavement work
Once again the village will undergo pavement maintenance with a major project, in this case improvements to Mildred Road.
Pavement maintenance generally consists of resurfacing selected streets to varying depths of hot mix asphalt (HMA) pavements. It includes such improvements as shouldering, repairing sections of settled or broken curb and gutter, patching, fabric interlayer and other miscellaneous work to accompany the resurfacing.
Highlight of the program is the completion of streets that were outlined in the 2012 referendum, when voters agreed to continue the Build Machesney program, which started in 2008, for another eight years. This program includes continuation of work in Eagles View and Darby Close subdivisions, along with the resurfacing of Minns Drive, Banyan Drive and Victory Lane.
Village Engineer Chris Dopkins said he anticipated awarding the contract June 17, with construction occurring during July and the first week in August.
The associated project along Mildred Road involves removal and replacement of the existing HMA pavement between Harlem and Roosevelt roads. Also included is the installation of storm sewers that will connect the existing dry well systems, in order to improvement storm water management.
Awarding of the contract is expected July 1, with work taking place during August and September.
Pavement maintenance improvements are estimated to cost $1.175 million, while Mildred Road work should cost about $330,000. Design and bid engineering and construction engineering is expected to run $43,024, or 3.66 percent of the overall cost. The same engineering for Mildred Road is projected to cost $44,455, or 13.47 percent of the overall expense.
Engineer Dopkins said engineering costs typically run between 12-25 percent of project costs.
“Lower-cost projects tend to have higher engineering costs, on a percentage basis, because there are a certain number of activities that every project requires, and those activities tend to take a higher percentage of the project’s budget on lower-value projects,” he explained.
Public works
The village’s success in leasing space at the former J.C. Penney Outlet building on North Second Street has led to the public works department needing to relocate. And so that department is heading for a new facility to be located off Gregory Drive in the Willow Creek Business Park.
In recent months village staff has developed a preliminary design for the building. The village is satisfied with that layout, and staff believes the facility should be built during the 2019 construction season.
A tentative schedule has bidding in May, awarding the contracts in June, construction starting in July and finishing in October. If that comes to pass, public works employees would be occupying their new work space between Oct. 21-25.
Engineering costs for the design/bid/build option would be $50,000.
This department previously was located in village hall, 300 Roosevelt Road. After the village purchased the Penney’s building several years ago, those employees moved into a small space at that facility.