A narrow, old, rapidly eroding street that parallels Springbrook Creek north of the Chicago Golf Club is on track to be moved away from the stream in an estimated $330,000 project that will be partly funded by the state.
The structural stability of Merrill Drive, which is the only public access for 31 unincorporated homeowners on Hawthorne Lane, Merrill Drive, Bayberry Lane and a small stretch of Wheaton Avenue, has been jeopardized in recent years by the significant erosion of the stream, according to Wheaton city engineers.
A $220,000 DuPage County streambank stabilization project in 1997 and 1998 that employed “bioengineering,” or the use of vegetative buffers along streambanks that are ecologically sensitive and aesthetically pleasing, was intended to correct all erosion on the banks of Springbrook Creek from Elm Street to Warrenville Road. However, county engineers soon realized that ending the erosion control along Merrill would be far more difficult and expensive through only bioengineering, and they began to search for other solutions.
A county consultant investigated eight possible alternatives, including merely stabilizing the streambank through bioengineering or structural solutions, moving the road, closing the road, building a new road or even relocating the stream. In the end, county engineers determined that only stabilizing the streambank would not be sufficient to stop the erosion.
Another option, involving closing Merrill Drive altogether and extending Farnham Lane east across the creek to serve the area, was dismissed because of high costs of land acquisition, building a new road and bridge construction. Still other options involving relocating the stream or building a new road south of the stream would require land acquisition from the Chicago Golf Club and were considered to be cost-prohibitive.
In the end, city and county engineers determined that the best option would be to move the road slightly to the north, away from Springbrook Creek, and also proceed with bioengineering along its banks.
Earlier this month, the Wheaton City Council gave the go-ahead to proceed with the engineers’ recommendation, which is eligible for grant funding under the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Water Act for about 60 percent of the project’s cost, about $198,000. The application would be submitted by October and the grant’s approval would be issued in February 2001, according to city engineers.
The city, county and Milton Township likely would split the remaining $132,000 of the cost if the grant, which is administered through the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, is approved.
Today, Merrill Drive falls under city jurisdiction because it is adjacent to the Wheaton Cemetery, which is inside Wheaton’s city limits. But the street serves no properties that are inside the city, and connects only to unincorporated streets that have no other public access.
