Riverside Drive project in Elgin moves along
Structural work and likely roadwork for the Riverside Drive Promenade project in downtown Elgin will be done by the end of October, City Engineer Joe Evers said.
The project is on Riverside Drive along the Fox River from Festival Park to Chicago Street. The street deck was deemed unsafe and closed to the public 10 yeas ago, Evers said.
The finished project — funded by $9 million in state grants — will include a two-lane road, and a promenade walkway along the river. IHC Construction Companies of Elgin is the construction manager for the project, whose demolition started in June 2012, Evers said.
The Elgin City Council also budgeted $1 million in tax-increment financing district funds for decorative elements such as landscaping, trees and possibly canopies on the promenade, Assistant City Manager Rick Kozal said.
“Once the work on the core structure has been completed, the city council will be presented with various expenditure proposals for the aesthetic amenities that will complete the decorative elements of the promenade,” he said.
In a TIF district, property taxes going to local governments are frozen at a specific level, and tax revenues exceeding that amount are used for public improvements such as roads and infrastructure.
Other major ongoing construction projects in Elgin include a $40 million project by the Illinois Department of Transporation at Route 20 and McLean Boulevard to eliminate some traffic signals and move traffic better off Route 20, Evers said. The project started in fall 2011 and is expected to end in 2015, he said.
IDOT is also putting new traffic signals at Shales Parkway and Route 58. The work started earlier this month and should be done by the Fourth of July, he said.
In downtown Elgin, the Central Business District Streetscape Project is continuing on Spring Street and Dexter Avenue, which the installation of sidewalk pavers and plantings, Evers said. This project is funded by tax-increment financing district funds.
“We definitely have a busy 2013. Things, economy wise, for right now are good,” Evers said.