Batavia gearing up for reconstruction of Main Street near downtown

Batavia leaders are gearing up for a $6.9 million project to reconstruct a more than half-mile stretch of Main Street from Water Street to Van Nortwick Avenue.

The 0.59-mile project, which city officials say will begin in March and wrap up by the end of the year, also will include new water and sanitary sewer pipes, new sidewalks, a bike lane and parking only on the street's north side.

A Feb. 18 informational meeting is planned at city hall for residents to ask questions and learn more about the project, which will detour traffic onto Wilson Street as Main will be reduced to one lane only for westbound traffic.

Mayor Jeff Schielke said the city tried to balance to desire to preserve older trees and houses with the need to modernize one of the city's arterial streets that also is a truck route.

"It's an important project for us," Schielke said. "There's some nice homes there. They certainly show their historical flavor. Hopefully, by the end of the year, we'll have a new street. It will have a positive impact on property values."

Area drivers are grousing over the Fabyan Parkway bridge project, which was supposed to wrap up last fall but was delayed until this spring due to weather.

Schielke noted that was a county project and a "unique situation."

Rahat Bari, Batavia city engineer, said the contractor in the Main Street project will face fines if the project is delayed by factors that are not weather-related.

Bari said $2.5 million will be funded through a Federal Surface Transportation grant, and a state grant will contribute $400,000.

Bari said the street reconstruction also will allow the city to separate the storm and sanitary sewers. Currently, rain runoff and residential sewage are collected by the same pipe, and the improvement will increase capacity and reduce backups.

A 4-inch water main installed before 1930 also will be replaced and expanded.

"The water main that's there is almost 90 years old," Bari said. "Our goal is to complete the project by the end of 2020."

Main Street was last resurfaced in 1990, according to the city's website.