2017/10/09 - Mayor's Column: This Year's Construction Season is Nearly Complete
“An Open Door to O’Fallon”
A Weekly Note from O’Fallon Mayor Herb Roach
This year has proven to be a particularly busy year for road construction. The City of O’Fallon works very hard to make sure that our roads remain in good shape and are able to handle the increased traffic that a growing community, like O’Fallon, experiences.
The City of O’Fallon attempts to perform most road construction during the summer months for a few reasons:
- More hours of daylight and dryer weather allow for more work to be performed and less delays due to weather.
- Traffic impact is considerably lower due to less vehicles traveling to and from schools.
- Some materials used in road construction are unavailable or more difficult and expensive to obtain in colder weather.
It is the City’s priority to complete each project on time, on budget, and with as little disruption to our residents, as possible.
While we try to schedule the timing of projects the best we can, many times, this timing is out of our hands and is set by the State of Illinois to coincide with their budget and project bidding process. And sometimes, in order to secure funding from the state or federal government, we are required to divide larger projects into multiple phases, spread out over a number of years.
Road construction can sometimes be frustrating and inconvenient, but like any improvement project, the long-term positive results will outweigh the temporary hardship. With any project, we plan and take steps to reduce any inconvenience that these projects may cause and we thank you for your patience and understanding.
Now that it is fall, we are happy to say that most of this year’s projects are either complete, or are nearing completion.
Milburn School Road: Milburn School Road, from Savannah Hills to the roundabout at Merriam Parkway/Milburn Estates was closed for most of the summer. The project to reconstruct this stretch of road to accommodate the increased traffic was completed on September 15, 2017-- two weeks earlier than expected.
Green Mount Road: All concrete work is complete and medians are constructed and seeded with grass, all that is left is some additional widening, striping and lighting. This project will be completed before the new HSHS-St. Elizabeth’s Hospital opens on November 4, 2017.
Highway 50: West Highway 50, from Old Collinsville Road to Hartman Lane was resurfaced to repair normal wear and tear experienced on this busy stretch of road. All this work was completed at night, so you may not have even seen crews working.
Porter Road: The stretch of Porter Road from the Porter/Simmons roundabout to approximately Carriageway Lane was closed to reconstruct the roadway to accommodate the increased traffic in this area. The contractor was able to move quickly on this project, and the road was complete and reopened in 42 days.
Regency Park: This stretch of road from Highway 50, south past Jack Schmitt Chevy has been repaved. This roadway will serve as an additional emergency route for the new hospital and ambulances, so it needed to be improved to handle the expected increase in traffic.
East 2nd Street: This roadway in downtown has been plagued with stormwater issues and deterioration of the roadway surface. The contractor has completed 2nd street and is now working on the intersection of Vine Street and 2nd Street. This project should be completed within the next couple of weeks.
If you are interested in more information about these projects or curious on how they are progressing, I encourage you to call the O’Fallon Public Works Department at 618-624-4500 Ext. 3.
As residents of O’Fallon, you should always be able to reach out to your elected officials and ask questions about what is happening in O’Fallon. Having open communications is important to me and something I care very deeply about. Thank you for reading, and please remember, my door is always open!