Normal is working to keep you traveling on smoother pavement. The town has approved three asphalt overlay projects in the past month totaling $4.8 million. The projects include the $1.8 million East College Avenue project as well as work on local neighborhood streets.
“This is the third and final major road contract that the Town of Normal is pursuing for the construction year,” said Karyn Smyth, a Normal councilmember. Smith spoke during this week’s meeting.
City Manager Pam Reece said, “This is our third contract, the third meeting in a row where we are issuing a contract for resurfacing. The first contract was the East College Avenue contract. The second one was general street resurfacing. This contract is a resurfacing contract for the Motor Fuel Tax (MFT) dollars.”
The East College Avenue project runs from Blair Drive to Young Drive and is funded from the town’s roadway fund. That project is scheduled for completion in October.
The general street resurfacing project is funded at $1.9 million and includes streets like; West Virginia Avenue, Madison Street, South University Street and Beech Street.
Some of the work in this project is a good example of why the streets that get paved aren’t based on surface condition only.
One of these areas is along Maplewood Drive. This neighborhood suffered flooding during the June 2021 flood. Consequently, Storm sewer upgrades are being made in that area. Upgrading storm sewers provides an opportunity to upgrade water lines. And as a result roads have to be repaved.
Public Works Departments look for opportunities to group projects like this together so that the entire system is kept up in good condition and so that the work among different city divisions can be coordinated and one division isn’t tearing up something new that another division just worked on. That is in line with their goal of being good stewards.
Along with Maplewood Drive; Boone Court, Belt Avenue and Maple Place will be improved. Because the paving work has to wait for the sewer and waterline work to be completed those streets will likely not be repaved until next spring but are scheduled to be finished by May 31, 2024.
Work on this group of streets is also funded by roadway funds. East College Avenue was broken out as a separate contract due to its size. Rowe Construction will be the contractor doing the work on both of these projects.
The MFT project is funded at $1.1 million and includes streets like; Orlando Avenue, Gregory Street and North Fell Avenue. H.J. Eppel will be the contractor on this project.
Regarding the continuing maintenance of town streets, Normal Public Works Director Ryan Otto said, “I think we are doing good. The funding target is right up there with kind of a midrange where the consultant recommended. So I hope to keep that going and in a couple of years we will look at the streets again in terms of rating and see how we are doing.”
