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Aurora OKs more work at Route 59 rail station

The bulk of a $5.6 million improvement project at the Route 59 Metra station is on schedule to be completed by year's end, and Aurora aldermen took two steps toward keeping that work on track.

The city council on Tuesday authorized a contract of up to $220,000 with F.H. Paschen to replace the roofs on all of the platforms and buildings as well as ramp and stair enclosures at the station that serves the far east side of Aurora and the far west side of Naperville.

Metra will pay about $90,000 for that portion of the project, officials said, and Aurora and Naperville may split the remaining cost.

Aldermen also authorized a three-way agreement among the city, Pace and Intersection Media LLC for installation, maintenance and revenue sharing for as many as 10 new passenger bus shelters at the station.

The city won't pay for the shelters or their maintenance or repair, but it will maintain the concrete surfaces where the shelters are placed. The agreement also spells out that the city and Pace will split any advertising revenue from the shelters.

Construction on the Aurora side of the project aims to more efficiently connect residential developments and commercial areas to the station with three new driveways into the parking lot. A traffic signal will help improve traffic flow at the intersection of Meridian Lake Drive and Station Boulevard.

A Pace bus staging area and a reconfigured parking lot with 400 additional spaces also are part of the project.

City officials expect the overall project to improve pedestrian and bus access into and out of the station, which has the highest ridership of any of the 27 stations on Metra's Burlington Northern-Santa Fe rail line.

Major construction is expected to be complete by year's end, city officials said. Minor landscaping and other minor work may continue into 2017.

The bulk of the project, roughly $4.1 million, is being paid for by the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning's Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Grant Program.

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