DeKalb City Council approves $1.5M IDOT grant for Route 23, Gurler Road intersection improvements

DeKALB - In a special meeting Monday, the DeKalb City Council approved a nearly $1.5 million in state funding to add traffic signals and other safety improvements to the intersection of Route 23 and Gurler Road.

City Manager Bill Nicklas said the intersection improvements came about following a traffic study as the city’s south side sees significant economic development. Ferrara Candy Company announced in January of 2020 it would build a distribution center on the land, and social media giant Facebook announced in July of 2020 a data center would come next.

The area is expected to generate a large amount of truck traffic as industry settles in, Nicklas said.

“The extraordinary development on the south side of DeKalb is no surprise to anyone,” Nicklas said. “And going back to the Ferrara announcement...and the announcement of Facebook it was obvious to us...that with the projected traffic on South Fourth Street and in vicinity of Gurler Road there were going to have to be some improvements.”

The city council voted 6-0 to approve the grant funding, with Ward 1 Alderman Carolyn Morris and Ward 6 Alderman Mike Verbic absent.

The agreement will provide $1,488,484 in Economic Development Program Funding from IDOT, which will include widening the intersection to add new turn lanes wide enough for truck movements and full signalization of the intersection in all four directions. Nicklas said a traffic study was also conducted for the intersection, which justified the need for improvements to mitigate traffic flow.

The state funding will cover nearly all of the more than $1.6 million project, according to city officials.

The meeting was less than 10 minutes, and Ward 3 Alderman Tracy Smith asked about the timeline of the project, which is now an approved intergovernmental agreement through the Illinois Department of Transportation which will fund the intersection improvements.

“We would hope to proceed in potentially August and at least get widening the pavement and striping in,” Gill said, adding the traffic signal posts may take longer amid shortages of certain metals. “Signals tend to lag especially now with current pressures on steel and such so you may not see it go up and get lit up until December or January. But physically the widening will be there for the vehicles to use this fall is the intent.”