St. Charles landscaping will be fixed this week

This week in St. Charles, crews are expected to finish restoring the landscaping where they widened Route 31 on the south end of the downtown.

Nicor gas company crews will finish replacing mains on First Street. The southbound lane will be blocked Tuesday and Wednesday for the work.

Kirk Road-Route 38

Crews will be working on the permanent traffic signal installations and miscellaneous tasks to wrap up the Kirk Road-Route 38 project. Daytime lane closures may be required.

Randall Road-Route 64:

Occasional daytime lane closures are still needed for traffic on Randall Road to complete median work.

McLean Boulevard:

Not much new here, as crews continue to relocate utilities near Spring Street and Bowes Road and widen Bowes and McLean. There's a long way to go on this Kane County Department of Transportation project, which started in September and is expected to take 18 months to finish. Crews are building a painted center median, putting down a new surface and doing intersection improvements.

Further complicating the traffic situation is that Route 31 is closed at McLean Boulevard for the construction of a bridge over the proposed New Stearns Road. That bridge is scheduled to be done by the end of January.

Kirk Road-Route 56

Grading will wrap up on both sides of the new pavement area on Kirk Road/Farnsworth Avenue, and asphalt paving should begin in the middle of this week. Curb and gutter work continues along both Kirk and Route 56 (Butterfield Road.) Watch for daily lane closures.

Batavia bridge

Construction made it a little tricky for treat-seekers Oct. 27, as parts of the sidewalks near entrances to Wilson Street businesses still consisted of plywood sheets, and passage is a little cramped on the bridge and the approaches. That didn't stop the hordes of little Spider-men, Disney princesses, ladybugs and froggies who visited downtown businesses that morning to collect candy.

One of the great costumes I saw: a little boy dressed up as an Army tank.

Kudos, too, to a construction worker who helped crowds safely cross Wilson Street at Route 25.