Phase two of a multiyear streetscape improvement project in downtown Naperville is starting Monday, a venture that is expected to impact downtown travel over the next nine months but will ultimately be a boon to accessibility and safety, city officials say.
Street, sidewalk and utility improvements are all part of planned upgrades, which will focus on a small stretch of Washington Street from Chicago Avenue to Benton Avenue. Work is expected to continue through the end of October.
The city plans to stage work schedules so any required street closures will still allow for pedestrian access to businesses caught in the construction zone.
Intermittent lane closures will begin Monday, according to project engineer Katie Rubush. Full lane closures along Washington Street in both directions are expected to set in the week of Feb. 19. One lane of north- and southbound traffic, however, will be maintained through the duration of streetscape work, Rubush said.
Meanwhile, on-street parking along the impacted portion of Washington will be eliminated until the project’s end.
Highlights of the streetscape work include complete road reconstruction, repair and upgrades to an aging water main and improved Americans with Disabilities Act accessibility to businesses.
The project will run alongside the ongoing replacement of Naperville’s Washington Street Bridge, which has been underway since last May. The multiyear overhaul is, after some delays, not due to finish until late this fall.
The city intentionally paired bridge work with streetscape upgrades to minimize prolonged traffic impacts to Washington Street, Rubush said. The alternative, she said, was dividing the projects and having multiple years of lane closures.
Between the new and ongoing construction, travel will be greatly affected between Chicago and Aurora avenues, the city said in a news release announcing the pending work. Motorists should expect traffic delays and are encouraged to find alternative routes, the city says.
Work Monday is a continuation of comparable improvements made in 2022 along portions of Jefferson Avenue and Main Street.
The first phase of upgrades came at a cost of $4.8 million. About $1.2 million was related to improvements in the pedestrian area, Rubush said.
The cost is being shared between the city and taxable property owners in the construction area. Naperville is paying for 60% of the pedestrian area improvements and the remaining 40% is to be reimbursed to the city through a special tax added to property bills over a 15-year period.
Phase two costs will be covered by a similar agreement. Rubush said the second round of work is currently contracted for about $8.4 million. A little over $3 million is related to improvements in the pedestrian area. Similarly, 40% of these costs will be covered by taxable property owners, again through a special tax to property bills paid out over a multiyear period.
To encourage foot traffic while construction goes on, the city is working with the Downtown Naperville Alliance to supplement wayfinding along and around Washington Street.
Katie Wood, executive director of the Downtown Naperville Alliance, said there will be “significant efforts to help the downtown businesses on the streetscape route and inform the public that these businesses are open and eager to serve.”
Efforts will include street banners, sidewalk signs and sidewalk stickers as well as other promotions, she said, adding that strategies will look similar to marketing tools used to help businesses during phase one work.
“Given this follows the streetscape project on Jefferson and Main in 2022,” she said, “we have several tools in our toolkit to help businesses during construction.”
