The city of Kewanee has a large collection of rough streets and a limited amount of money for fixing them.
The City Council got some information Monday night from a representative of Hutchison Engineering on how priorities are set for which streets get fixed.
The engineer said two major street projects are planned for this construction season: North Boss Street and a block of South Elm Street that wasn’t paved during a major reconstruction project in the area last year.
Paving Elm Street shouldn’t be a problem, since the sewer, water and storm sewer lines were taken care of in last year’s work.
But on Boss Street between Second and Third streets, a complete rehabilitation project will be needed.
The engineer attributed the poor street condition to stormwater drainage issues. That will have to be resolved, and water and sewer lines on the block will be evaluated, before the street can be repaved.
The extent of the work won’t be known without further study, the engineer said, but it’s likely to be a major project.
Councilmen Adam Cernovich and Chris Colomer had questions about how street work is planned, and how the council can be sure that the city’s limited street repair funds are used most efficiently.
The engineer said the condition of water, sewer and storm sewer pipes under the streets has to be considered before street repairs are planned. In some cases, street surfaces can’t be redone until the pipes under the streets are fixed.
Colomer said he’d like to see a five-year plan for street repairs. The engineer replied that such a plan would be good for the first year, but after that things probably will have changed so that the plan is no longer completely valid.
