Naperville is postponing Washington Street improvements until 2024 because of complications with the underlying utilities.
The city planned to replace four blocks of pavement and sidewalk from Chicago Avenue to Benton Avenue this year in a project similar to the work completed on other downtown streets in 2022.
Bill Novack, director of transportation, engineering and development, in a memo to the Naperville City Council this week said the improvement designs are more challenging than initially anticipated.
The location of some of the existing utilities is complicating the staging and lane closures for construction, Novack said.
Because more design time is needed, the earliest construction could start would be July.
Under that timeline and with the amount of construction necessary, the work would not be finished before the end of the construction season. The new plan will go out to bid in the fall with construction starting in late February or early March.
Because the Washington Street bridge will take two years to complete, the city will be able to take advantage of the bridge lane closures during the 2024 streetscape project, Novack said.
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