Work related to regrading Swan Pond Park, installing a drainage culvert and other improvements are likely to begin after Aug. 20, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers project manager assigned to the project.
Crews from Illinois Constructors Corporation are still waiting for ComEd to finish work in the park, said Jeff Zuercher of the Army Corps. While ComEd has re-buried two electrical cables feeding power to parts of the village, the company has not yet hooked up those new power lines.
Zuercher said ComEd has indicated they will be done with their work by Aug. 20, at which time Illinois Constructors can begin earth-moving operations.
In the past two weeks, the company has been removing trees from the park and from the stone retaining wall along the river. According to Riverside Village Manager Peter Scalera, about 17 trees were removed from Swan Pond Park. That’s fewer than the two dozen originally anticipated.
“The village was able to save about 10,” said Scalera.
Invasive species of plants and trees have already been removed from the retaining wall along the river bank. Once the stumps are pulled out of the wall, it will be rebuilt. Following that, workers will construct a new walking path along the river, which will have open views to the water.
“It will be a different experience walking along the path,” Scalera said.
Meanwhile, over by the former Hofmann Dam site, a backhoe has been scooping clay-like sediment from behind what remains of what’s being called the “legacy dam,” which predated the 1950s-era Hofmann Dam.
Zuercher said the Army Corps expects between 800 and 1,500 tons of sediment to be removed from an area stretching between 20 and 30 feet behind the legacy dam. Sediment removal could take another week to complete, said Zuercher. Once that’s done, the legacy dam itself will be removed from the river.
