Road resurfacing projects in Riverside will commence April 18 and are scheduled to be completed by the end of the summer, Public Works Director Michael Hullihan said last week.
On March 7, the village board awarded a contract for the work, which is expected to cost approximately $446,700, to J.A. Johnson Paving of Arlington Heights. The village received seven bids for the work, ranging from Johnson’s low bid to $529,000. The village estimate for the work was $516,335.
Streets included in the 2005 programs are the entire lengths of Blackhawk, Gage and Maplewood roads and Robinson Court. In addition, Lindberg Road will be resurfaced from Selborne Road to Harlem Avenue, while Selborne Road will be resurfaced from York to Lindberg.
Those streets will be funded with money the village received as a result of a March 2003 tax referendum passed overwhelmingly by Riverside voters.
According to Hullihan, the work will include rebuilding catch basins and storm inlets, and may require some curb and driveway apron replacement. Crews will mill off and replace the asphalt surface of the roads.
Residents whose driveway aprons will be replaced will be notified ahead of time so that their vehicles can be parked on the street while the work is completed. Roads are expected to remain open to traffic for the length of the entire project, except for short periods of time when the new asphalt is applied.
In preparation for the work, the village last week sent letters to residents on the streets slated for resurfacing to give them an idea of the scope of work and possible inconveniences. The general contractor on the project, J.A. Johnson Paving, has not yet firmed up details on the sequence of the work.
Hullihan said that the village was meeting with the contractor on April 5 to finalize those matters.
Addison Road resurfacing
In addition to those streets, the entire length of Addison Road, from Longcommon to Harlem Avenue, will be resurfaced. That project, which will commence in mid-June and wrap up by the end of summer, will be paid for in part by funds the village receives from Motor Fuel Taxes. The majority of the expense, some 66 percent, will be paid for by the federal government.
Addison Road qualified for the federal money after being identified as a “collector” route in the village. In 2006, Riverside will use a combination of federal and local MFT funds to resurface East Quincy Street. Ridgewood Road is slated for resurfacing in 2007 using both federal and local funds.
Bids are currently being sought for the Addison Road project. They will be unsealed in April.
Riverside, Hullihan said, is also currently benefiting from a lack of road projects being funded by the State of Illinois. With fewer highway reconstruction projects available, paving companies are actively seeking local contracts and driving down prices as a result.
The village-funded 2005 project came in 13 percent under estimates, despite the village’s engineer taking into account the lack of state road projects.
“Our timing on the street program may be dumb luck,” Hullihan said, “but we couldn’t be doing this at a better time.”
As a result, Hullihan said he is moving up the Kimbark Avenue resurfacing project from 2007 to 2006. Other streets to be resurfaced in 2006 with bond proceeds are Michaux, Olmsted, Loudon and Arlington roads; Westover Avenue; portions of Nuttall and Northwood roads in the northwest corner of the village; and short portions of Longcommon, Cowley and Delaplaine road north from the Burlington Northern-Santa Fe railroad tracks.
Hullihan said that he will identify another road for resurfacing to replace Kimbark Avenue in 2007.
When the current street program is completed in 2009, Hullihan estimated that some 37 percent of the village roadways will have been resurfaced.
