Summer construction season underway

Jul. 15—DANVILLE — As drivers have experienced construction affecting interstate travel locally, Danville's annual maintenance projects and more are ramping up.

"I think we've got a fairly average start to the construction season. We have a lot of projects going on. They're not quite as chaotic maybe as what some of the past has seemed like," said Danville City Engineer Sam Cole.

Some of the development pieces are done with some past projects, such as with Carle at the Riverfront and road closures with that project.

Additional roadwork improvements by Carle have been on pause on North, Robinson and Lafayette streets by the Vermilion County Museum.

Cole said those areas are mostly complete with final asphalt surface and seeding work to finish. The city is coordinating with the retail building construction that Carle is completing at Gilbert and North streets.

"We're hoping that this year we shouldn't see as many long-term road closures," Cole said. "We're going to have a lot of closures during maintenance projects and stuff like that, that are more temporary, or just inconveniences. But hopefully there's not as many as big shutdowns."

Ferndale Avenue has been open to local traffic only. Aldermen in March approved a $1.23 million contract with Cross Construction Inc. for Ferndale Avenue pavement stabilization and resurfacing. The project, along Ferndale from Liberty Lane to Poland Road, will be completed this year.

Cole said a lot of drainage improvements, re-dredging ditches out and putting culverts in, have been done so far with the project. The pavement is being rebuilt.

All over the city, curb ramps and sidewalk repairs have been completed to get ready for the mill and overlay projects.

One area seeing sidewalk work is in the Midtown Tax Increment Financing area along Hazel Street near Danville High School.

Cole said they're still getting a handle on what the backlog of sidewalk issues are in the city.

"That's been a work in progress. I think we could easily spend a $1 million a year just on sidewalks and I haven't found that revenue source yet," he said.

There are a lot of maintenance projects this year with overlay and cape seal.

The city will be doing some level of road improvements to about 26 percent of city roads this year, from complete reconstruction to crack seal and oil and chip.

A map for the planned work is on the city's website at www.cityofdanville.org.

A lot of that work will be from July-September.

City crews have been running a road widener to do asphalt work along the edges of streets.

The city's goal is to preserve all oil and chip roads once every five years. At the end of next year, the city will meet that goal.

"That's one third of our roads, are oil and chip," Cole said, adding that they then start the process over again to keep the roads from getting as bad as they've been.

Elsewhere, three more pump station projects are going on with three completed last year on the city's west side, several projects are wrapping up such as ditch cleaning and pond dredging in the Lynch Road area and by Blue Cross Blue Shield.

"We are continually adapting because materials delays continue to be a real thing," Cole said, adding that contractors also are busy.

The East Williams Street project, from Bowman Avenue to State Street, was scheduled for concrete patching, curb ramp upgrades and surface overlay.

A bid through the Illinois Department of Transportation bidding process came in 26 percent higher than estimated, about a half million dollars above estimate.

"While we want it done, it's not holding up something else. We're going to rebid that," Cole said about a November bidding process. That project could start in the spring of 2024.

Infrastructure Bill keeps area busy with projects

With the Infrastructure Bill funding for communities, contractors will be extremely busy in the next several years with projects, he added.

Another project is the reconstruction of the intersection at Sager and Washington streets near the Vermilion County Juvenile Detention Center and Health Department. There have been some sewer failures in that area.

The city also is in the process of working with a design consultant for the riverfront project near the David S. Palmer Arena. Golden Nugget Danville Casino has given the city $1 million for the project.

Cole said they have conceptual drawings and are working to get something built there. The city has identified a few key pieces of getting people down to the riverfront, and access to that being piece No 1. Some of the other connections, such as opening up the south side across the river where the dam was removed, the city would like to do some road improvements there so people can get down to the river to fish, kayak or canoe.

Cole said they'd like to bid some of the work by winter or first quarter of 2024.

The city would like to select a developer to work with to try to build out some of the retail, multi-use space, and determine if someone could operate a zipline.

"We've got to find some partners in that," Cole said.

Kickapoo Adventures' Tom and Julie Monahan have had recent contact with the city because of the drought and having trouble getting people on the river.

"We may be looking at working with them to have a temporary access point. The road's not really built at a degree that you want lots of people going down it. It's very steep and it washes out," Cole said.

"We want to get people down there, but we need to do it in a safe manner and get it set up first," Cole said about the little parking lot area and the roadway that needs stabilized on the south side of Memorial Bridge near the Subway restaurant.

He said with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources funding the dam removal, they put money into gravel and stabilization. The city needs to preserve it and do it right, Cole said.

"That will be more of like a wilderness, just trails and more outdoorsy side," he added of the riverfront project near the arena.

On the West Williams realignment project, it's on temporary pause on the design. It will be revamping up, being retooled after several years of plans being discussed. City officials hope it will go to construction in 2025.

The city is obtaining the final property for the Kirchner Building Center move to the former Goodwill site at Fairchild and Gilbert streets. City officials hope to have all the demolitions completed and turn the site over to Kirchner by the end of this year. That would give Kirchner all of 2024 to do its build out and move.

"We're not likely to go build the West Williams piece until Kirchner is officially moved to the new spot. So, we still have to work out that timeline. I'm super excited. I've seen some of their preliminary renderings. I'm excited about what they have in store and I think that they're excited. This will likely be a flagship location for them," Cole said.

Cole too said there are more plans for revitalization, such as with housing, in the neighborhood south of Carle at the Riverfront.

In the downtown area, sewer assessments are being completed prior to $3 million grant money being spent on sidewalks and roadway in 2024.

Plans for the former Turk Furniture building continue for restaurants to locate there.

The city also will be undertaking an alternatives study for the Kickapoo Rail Trail and how to get it from the Vermilion County Fairgrounds to Danville. Cole said he thinks they've exhausted all efforts with the railroad to work something out.

"We need to look at what the other options are, and the costs with those, and the risks with those. There will be public input...," he said. A consultant will help map all those options out and figure out what the city wants to do there.

"There's a lot of interest in making that happen. It's just how do we make that happen," he said.

Also, Danville Area Transportation Study is in its last year of federal funding. Danville Mass Transit and CRIS Healthy Aging have applied for planning funds on how to serve the public best in the future.

In addition to interstate work, the state also is working on design for mill and overlay of Route 1 from Memorial Bridge to Shady Lane during the next four to five years. There would be curb ramp upgrades and modernization.

"In the next five years, things are going to look vastly different along those state corridors too," Cole said. "It's a long way to get there."