May 07, 2025
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Improvements on deck for St. Charles roadways this year

City identified roadways for improvement, locations for new bike lane markers this year

By David Petesch
At the April 5 St. Charles City Council meeting, aldermen approved a $1.8 million contract with Geneva Construction Company. The scope of work will include roadway resurfacing, sidewalk repairs, curb/gutter repairs, utility repairs, restoration and a water main replacement on South 12th Avenue between Madison and Ronzheimer avenues, Ken Jay, manager of the St. Charles Public Works Engineering Division, told aldermen in a memo.

St. Charles' 2025 Roadway Improvement Project plans call for resurfacing over 15 miles of roadway adding about six miles of bike path markings in 2025.

St. Charles residents may have smoother rides through their neighborhoods by the end of the year, as the city finalizes its 2025 street resurfacing program plans in preparation for summer construction.

Plans call for resurfacing and repairs to over 15 miles of roadway and adding about six miles of new bike path markings in 2025.

Roadways identified as most in need of improvements include Stonehenge Road, Persimmon Drive, Greenwood Lane, Timbers Trail, a portion of Prairie Street just east of Randall Road and several roadways south of the train tracks on the city’s east side.

Members of the St. Charles Government Services Committee heard a presentation on public works' plans for roadway improvements in 2025 at their Feb. 24 meeting.

Public works manager Chris Gottlieb presented the proposed 2025 Street Program and detailed their criteria for selecting which roadways are improved, the types of repairs they will make and how the projects will be funded.

Map of proposed 2025 Street Program in St. Charles, color-coded by funding source. (Orange: Motor Fuel Tax, Blue: Home Rule Tax, Purple: Federal Surface Transportation Program grant funding, Green: Capital Funds)

Map of proposed 2025 Street Program in St. Charles, color-coded by funding source. (Orange: Motor Fuel Tax, Blue: Home Rule Tax, Purple: Federal Surface Transportation Program grant funding, Green: Capital Funds) (Photo Provided by the City of St. Charles)

The roadwork will be funded by a mix of Motor Fuel Tax, Home Rule Tax, grant funding and capital funds.

Gottlieb said the city uses laser scanning of its roadways to create a pavement condition index, which gives roadway surfaces a rating from 1-100 based on several different criteria. The city conducts these scans to reevaluate the roadways every five years.

Gottlieb told committee members that roads are chosen for repairs based on a number of criteria, including their pavement condition index, location and future servicing needs.

Gottlieb said they try to group repairs to roads in close proximity to limit the number of times the contractor has to change locations to reduce costs, and coordinate with other divisions of public works to make sure they aren’t laying new roads that will be torn up for utility work soon after, which is why they are currently avoiding streets that still have lead lines.

Gottlieb said while public works frequently conducts preventative maintenance like crack filling and pot hole patching throughout the year, the road program focuses on resurfacing, base reclamation and full reconstruction.

Resurfacing is the least invasive repair included in the program, which entails milling off the surface of the roadway and replacing it with new asphalt.

Base reclamation involves removing the asphalt but retaining the existing base layer, while full reconstruction entails removing all the existing pavement materials and rebuilding the road with a new stone base and new asphalt.

Gottlieb also presented plans for pedestrian and bike path improvements in 2025, which includes adding shared lane arrows to several streets and some full bicycle lanes.

Map of proposed bike path markings in St. Charles as part of the 2025 Street Program. (Orange lines represent bike lanes and blue lines represent shared lane arrows)

Map of proposed bike path markings in St. Charles as part of the 2025 Street Program. (Orange lines represent bike lanes and blue lines represent shared lane arrows) (Photo Provided by the City of St. Charles)

Gottlieb said no parking will be sacrificed to create the bike lanes.

As proposed, shared lane arrows will be added on Timbers Trail, Greenwood Lane and Persimmon Drive to help motorists identify shared roadways. In areas where parking is already restricted, like sections of Fox Chase Boulevard and Stonehenge Road, full bicycle lanes will be implemented.

Gottlieb said the program is expected to go out to bid in early March and will come back before the city for further review once a contractor is chosen.

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