Chicago Street from Lynch to Sheridan Streets will be closed to traffic beginning at 7 a.m., Thursday, Dec. 3 as City contract crews work to separate storm and sanitary sewers. The work is expected to continue for three months.
The closure is part of the City’s Highland Ave. Sewer Separation Project and part of Elgin’s ongoing sewer separation efforts. The City issued nearly $8 million in bonds over the last five years to fund sewer separation projects after Elgin’s City Council decided many years ago that separating the sewer lines was the environmentally right thing to do. To continue sewer separation projects over the next four years, an additional $10 million was funded using both bonds and the Riverboat fund.
“These projects are enormously expensive but necessary,” said General Services Group Director David Lawry.
The City has several sewer separation projects planned over the next several months. The Bent Street area will begin after the first of the year and design will begin on the Lords Street area project shortly thereafter.