St. Charles electric work latest bump in road

You might have seen St. Charles city electrical department workers on the job Saturday and Sunday in the First Street redevelopment project.

That's because they've got a deadline coming up.

The city is moving the overhead electrical service underground, including putting in new transformers. And it has to get the work done now, because precast panels for the parking deck at First Street and Walnut Court are due to arrive sometime the first two weeks of September. They can't install them until the utility lines and poles are gone.

"The city electric is working hard to get utilities out of the way," said Terry Heffron, project liaison.

Other utility work is also going on near First and Walnut streets. You can look forward to daily lane closures as workers dig up sewers. They hope they don't have to close streets, but won't know until they start digging how big the trenches will have to be, or whether they can cover them with temporary steel plates for vehicles to drive over.

Don't be surprised if something changes.

Batavia bridge: The pouring of the concrete deck went well this week. As of Friday it was just about ready for post-tensioning (it had to be able to withstand a force of a minimum 4,000 pounds per square inch -- and preferably 6,000 to 7,000 -- before that is done).

How do they know it's ready? When workers poured the bridge, they also poured samples of the concrete into cylinders. They then put these cylinders into a machine that tries to break them.

"You always want to save time on a project, but that is one area you don't want to rush," said Heffron, project liaison here too.

Up this week: Pouring roadway. Then the approach slabs that connect the roadway to the bridge. (This is where I wish I could do a quick drawing for you.)

And after that, the sidewalks will be removed. Pedestrians will be able to walk on the roadway and access businesses via temporary stone or wood ramps. Workers will be putting in utilities underneath the sidewalk area, installing tree grates and making new sidewalks.

"In the next three weeks you are going to see a lot of activity," Heffron said.

Bike bridge: If you have an opinion about what the new bike bridge in Geneva's Island Park should look like, now is your chance.

There's a meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Geneva Community Center, 710 S. Western Ave., to look at plans to replace the 76-year-old bridge. You can talk to engineers and park district staff.

Red Gate Road bridge: It's still in engineering phases. But if you want to learn all about what's being planned, St. Charles has a Web site: www.redgatebridge.org.