Rehabilitation of the city’s sanitary sewers started this week on Washington Street from Benton Avenue to Jackson Avenue in downtown Naperville.
Through the end of March, Performance Pipelining Inc. of Ottawa will rehab the pipes that connect homes and businesses to the main sewer line and install pipes with caps that provide access to the sewer line so blockages can be removed, according to city information about the project.
Because Washington Street is a main north-south thoroughfare through downtown, the work will take place overnight from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. Monday through Friday to minimize traffic disruptions, city officials said through Naper Notify, the city’s mass communication system.
The project also may require lane reductions at times, city officials said.
The sewer work must be completed before the next stage of the multiyear downtown streetscape improvement project can begin.
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This summer, there are plans to rebuild the roads and sidewalks on Washington Street between Chicago Avenue and Benton Avenue and on the east side of Main Street just south of Van Buren Avenue.
No changes to the parking along Washington Street are proposed, according to officials.
Last year, Main and Webster streets were reconstructed between Jackson and Jefferson avenues, Jefferson Avenue between Webster and Main streets, and Jackson Avenue between Webster and Washington streets.
That work above and below ground involved removing and replacing water mains and service lines, pavement, curbs and gutters, sidewalks, brick pavers and streetlights.
The city also added new raised planters, benches and landscaping.
The purpose of the streetscape project is to upgrade the aging utilities infrastructure and improve pedestrian mobility, accessibility, and safety for those who visit and reside downtown, officials explained.
And it’s not the only construction scheduled downtown this year.
Reconstruction of the Washington Street bridge is expected to begin this spring.
The bridge, which crosses the DuPage River between Chicago and Aurora avenues, is more than 40 years old and so deteriorated that the city had to restrict the size of vehicles using it to 15 tons in 2016.
Plans are to demolish and reconstruct the east side of the span this year, followed by the west side in 2024.
An inspection of the bridge last September showed signs of increased deterioration, and bridge engineers from the Illinois Department of Transportation directed the city to lower the posted weight limit to 8 tons and recommended reducing the bridge to one lane in each direction, which has been in effect since October.