For the fifth time since 2016, the Aurora City Council has voted to extend a contract with engineering firm HR Green to design a streetway project in downtown.
The long-planned project has two parts: one that would beautify the streetscape along Broadway from Benton Street to New York Street, and another that would convert the downtown stretches of Galena Boulevard and New York Street into two-way roads.
All the major streets in downtown used to be one-way, for at least around 50 years.
This latest change to the city’s contract with HR Green is to help get the project fully designed and permitted through the Illinois Department of Transportation. The contract originally was just to design two-way conversions for the downtown stretches of Downer Place, Galena Boulevard and New York Street, with the Broadway improvements added on later.
The amendment was approved by the Aurora City Council on Tuesday as a part of the meeting’s consent agenda, which is typically reserved for routine or non-controversial items that are all approved with a single vote. So, it was not discussed by aldermen at the meeting.
Last year, Aurora Mayor John Laesch delayed the Broadway streetscape project over concerns about the budget.
At his recent State of the City Address, Laesch said the plan was to use a $3 million state grant that the city had received for the project to instead pay for the Galena Boulevard and New York Street two-way conversion projects, but the state denied that request. So now, he said, the project is moving forward again.
Since the project’s pause, the Illinois Department of Transportation sent Aurora a list of updates that need to be made to the project’s design, according to city Director of Public Works Jason Bauer. He said that things change rapidly, so if a project hasn’t been reviewed in around 18 months, it needs to be looked at again.
The goal is to get all of the changes made and to send the plans back to the Department of Transportation for final review, Bauer told a committee of the Aurora City Council earlier this month. Hopefully, then, a contract for construction of the project can be awarded in late fall or early winter, he said.
Bauer called this project “basically the remainder of the big things that are going on in downtown,” with the exception of the New York Street bridge rehabilitation project planned for 2028 or 2029. But, he said, this project needs to be done first because the two-way streets are needed to take the bridge out of service.
Through the Broadway streetscape project, basically everything from the roadway to the face of buildings is expected to be removed and put back in new, including concrete, brick pavers and street lights, according to Bauer.
Some adjustments to the roadway of Broadway are also expected: the road would be losing street parking on the northern-most block to make way for two full-sized turn lanes.
Those new turn lanes will also mean that the northern part of Broadway will see the least amount of beautification, Bauer previously said. So, the sidewalks in that area won’t be expanded like sidewalks on the southern blocks will, he said, although they will still get some plantings.
Moving further south, there will be wider greenspace areas along the sidewalk to further separate pedestrians from the roadway, he has said.
Some work for this project has already been completed, including much of the underground work. Plus, the state recently resurfaced the road.
As for the conversion of Galena Boulevard and New York Street from one-way to two-way, there likely won’t be much of an impact on the traffic on those roads, at least not once people get used to the change, according to Bauer. Between the two roads, there will still be the same amount of lanes going in each direction.
But, he said it should ease congestion along Broadway.
rsmith@chicagotribune.com
