Residents in and around the 1500 block of Ridge Road in Homewood will see long-awaited flood mitigation improvements in the area soon. A storm sewer improvement project was approved by the village board Tuesday.
The project will include the Loomis Avenue and Hickory Road intersection, Burr Oak Road from Loomis Avenue to Hood Avenue, as well as portions of Linden Road and Loomis Avenue. Over 2,800 feet of 18- to 30-inch storm sewer will be installed.
“I know people that live right there that are affected by this and they’re very excited for this,” Trustee Lauren Roman said.
The project has been in the works for several years. A 2017 Illinois Department of Transportation study helped dictate the engineering plans. Homewood public works asked Christopher B. Burke Engineering of Rosemont for a quote instead of waiting for IDOT to move forward.
“The reason we did this is to help speed the project up because of the long time it takes to get through the Illinois Department of Transportation engineering services,” Public Works Director John Schaefer said. “The village will provide the engineering services and the bidding documents.”
The village has worked with the firm in the past and competitive bidding was waived. Burke Engineering will do the work for $91,350, all of which will be paid by Homewood. The village will now enter an agreement with IDOT, which will fund 70 percent of the construction costs. Homewood will be responsible for the remainder.
“This is just one of the projects that we’re currently working on. There are still other areas in town that are flooding. We just haven’t come up with a proper solution, yet,” Schaefer said. “Once we do, we’ll bring those in front of the board, too.”