Major construction set for St. Charles' Main Street

Commuters who use St. Charles' Main Street to cross the Fox River should prepare for longer drive times.

The city is ramping up a major construction project that will shut down half the street's lanes and be complete just in time to give way to an even bigger construction project next year.

The city's main element in the construction will begin in late July or early August with a full replacement of the sanitary sewer that runs under Main Street from 7th Avenue to Hunt Club Drive. The work will branch out into the adjacent side streets for the installation of new water mains.

A city council committee approved a $1.35 million contract for the work Monday night. That total is about 5 percent more than the city anticipated. Taxpayers will also fork out $117,360 for construction engineering services with Hampton, Lenzini, and Renwick, a private firm.

Nicor, ComEd and cable companies will take advantage of the work to upgrade their subterranean infrastructures as well.

During the work, Main Street (Route 64) will shrink to one lane of traffic running east and one running west, bottlenecking the specific construction zone. The city expects construction to run from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. most days.

Adding to the construction is a project to patch and widen the intersection of Main Street and Oak Street. That separate but related project will also include the upgrading of storm and sanitary sewers. The work will come at a cost of an additional $1.35 million. That's about $50,000 less than the city expected.

The work on both projects should be completed sometime in October.

The state has a larger Route 64 project that will stretch all the way east past the DuPage Airport, roughly Kautz Road to Route 59, that involves major bridge repair or replacement on the section that runs over the railroad tracks. The state is still working on land acquisition, including some condemnation takings, for that project.

St. Charles Public Works Engineering Division Manager James Bernahl said Monday the state won't bid that project until September. That means work won't likely begin until 2012.

There are no plans to reroute traffic during any of the construction.