Funding lined up for long-awaited East State widening in Geneva
A project 15 years in the making - adding a center bidirectional turn lane on East State Street in Geneva - will likely become reality in 2021 and 2022.
Dan Bruckelmeyer, president and chief executive officer of engineering firm BLA Inc., updated the Geneva City Council on Monday about the status of rebuilding State (Route 38) from just east of the Fox River bridge to just east of Glengarry Drive.
The design work was essentially finished by 2012. Lining up the money for the project - estimated at $16.1 million for construction, $3 million for buying land and acquiring easements, and $600,000 for construction oversight - is what has taken so long.
Grants from the federal government and the state transportation department have been lined up, but Geneva will still be expected to kick in about $3.7 million, according to Bruckelmeyer's presentation. The presentation will be posted on the city's website today.
A new concrete road will be constructed. Gaps in sidewalks will be filled in. A bicycle path will be added on part of the south side, connecting to Kirk Road. A dedicated right-turn lane will be added on eastbound State to southbound Bennett Street (Route 25), and there will be a new left-turn lane at East Side.
There won't be a traffic signal at Harrison Street, however. Bruckelmeyer said the amount of traffic at that intersection does not meet state standards for installing a signal.
And a lot of stuff underground will be replaced while the road is torn up. The city plans to replace water mains and sanitary- and storm-sewer pipes. The pipes will be larger; that includes replacing the 8-inch storm sewer with one at least 4 inches bigger. The cost of the water and sewer work is not included in the price tag for the road rebuild.
Bruckelmeyer said he expects the 2021 construction season would be spent moving utilities, including electrical, cable television and telephone lines, and preparing the site for construction. Construction would happen in 2022. Traffic would be reduced to one lane in each direction during construction.