Streetscape Work Starts Monday

December 2004
By Kim Wendel

The long-awaited $4.9 million downtown streetscape project gets underway Monday morning.

This week, Burton Scot Inc. contractors are surveying areas downtown, marking locations for above-ground and under-ground utility installation.

On Monday, Scot will begin saw-cutting street pavements and completing the layout work for the underground conduit installation phase.

Underground utility installation will start with sanitary sewers at the South Franklin and Washington streets intersection.

The project is designed to preserve and enhance the vitality of the historic downtown.

The 11-month-long project, slated for completion in November, will replace downtown sidewalks and light poles and renovate the front of Riverside Park. Electrical wires will be relocated or buried.

Scot will work 8a.m.-4p.m. weekdays only. Two-way traffic on all streets will be maintained at all times, but Village Administrator Ben Himes said a few parking spaces will be unavailable on downtown streets wherever Scot is working.

Employees of village businesses are encouraged to park at Valley Lutheran Church on East Orange Street during the construction.

Scot agreed to do the construction in phases and disrupt only one section of the business district at a time. Construction will shut down during the Blossom Time Festival in late May and the late July sidewalk sale.

The project is being financed with a $2.4 million bond issue that will be paid off from both residential and commercial property taxes.