Although it seems like Grand Boulevard and Monroe Avenue in Brookfield have been torn up forever, the work to install a new storm sewer and repave the streets is wrapping up early.
Grand Boulevard opened for traffic earlier this week while Monroe Avenue should be open to traffic by the end of the week, said Village Engineer Derek Treichel. ComEd is moving some utility poles so they don’t interfere with a bioswale being installed on the south side of Monroe Avenue between Park and Elm avenues.
After work on the bioswale – a natural storm water detention area featuring native prairie plants – is complete, Monroe Avenue will receive its final coat of asphalt, from Prairie Avenue to Maple Avenue.
The $5.16 million project completes the second phase of work on Grand Boulevard. The first phase, which was completed in 2009, addressed Grand Boulevard south of Eight Corners. That phase also included the installation of a new storm sewer along Lincoln Avenue.
The second phase of the project, which began in March, included the area north of Eight Corners and featured the installation of a storm sewer along Monroe Avenue and one along Grand Boulevard.
The project is wrapping up about two weeks early, said Village Manager Riccardo Ginex, due in part to the weather this summer.
“It was probably going to run until October, but the weather really helped us a lot,” said Ginex. “The contractor did a great job.”
Between the two phases, the Grand Boulevard project cost nearly $7 million. About half of that cost was funded through federal grants administered by the Illinois Department of Transportation.
The next major road project on tap will come during the summer of 2013, when Maple Avenue is resurfaced from the railroad tracks to 47th Street. That work will be much smaller in scale than the Grand Boulevard project.
Maple Avenue will be open to traffic for all but a couple of days next summer. The scope of the work calls for a simple resurfacing of the roadway, along with minor repairs to curbs, gutters and drainage structures.
A portion of that work will also be funded through a grant.
-Bob Uphues
