Villa Park maps proposed road work

Villa Park officials hope to resurface more than three miles of roads next year, but they won't be tackling the worst streets like parts of Michigan Avenue.

"I stopped riding around because I didn't want to have to put new shocks on my car ... the streets are so bad," Trustee Al Bulthuis said. "We're going to resurface streets that are in perfect condition compared to Michigan."

In fact, it is because some streets are in such poor condition that the village cannot fix them - at least not yet, public works director Vydas Juskelis said. The portions of roads like Michigan, between St. Charles Road and Division Street, have deteriorated so much they need more than resurfacing; they need much more costly road construction, Juskelis said.

"Our goal is to catch these streets before they get to the point where they need reconstruction," Juskelis said. "That's the balancing act."

It costs about $400,000 to $500,000 to grind two to three inches of pavement and resurface one mile, whereas it costs roughly $2 million to $2.5 million per mile to reconstruct a street, Juskelis said.

Other municipalities have found they cannot catch up if they spend all their money on the "worst first" because too many streets would slide into the worst category in the meantime, he said. They've found it's better to follow a "prevention" program and whittle away at the worst.

"It's tough. You really want to do them all but you can't," Juskelis said. "Pavement preservation has become the industry standard because it works."

For roughly $1.5 million of strictly village funds, Villa Park hopes to resurface stretches of 11 roads.

The tentative list, which depends on funding and road conditions, includes: Biermann Avenue from Division Street to St. Charles Road; Euclid Avenue from Highland Avenue to Madison Street; Harvard Avenue between Division and Elm streets; Holly Court between Westmore and Addison avenues; Illinois Avenue from Kenilworth Avenue to Central Boulevard; Kenilworth from West End to Harvard Avenue; Lincoln Avenue from Roy Drive to Vermont Street; Merle Street from Lincoln to Westmore; Princeton Avenue from St. Charles Road to the Union Pacific Railroad tracks; Second Avenue from Division to St. Charles; and Yale Avenue from Park Boulevard to Madison.

"We're buying 10 to 15 years with two to three inches of pavement. That's much more cost-effective," said Dan Sullivan, streets superintendent for the village.

With help from a federal grant paying 70 percent of the estimated $1.7 million costs, the village also plans to resurface St. Charles Road from Route 83 to Westmore.

Officials also hope to reconstruct Kenilworth between Harvard and Ardmore avenues at a cost of $650,000.