Geneva’s Kautz Road widening and improvement project was named Project of the Year by the American Public Works Association Fox Valley Branch.

The project involved widening and improving 1.56 miles of Kautz Road from Longest Drive to Swensen Avenue in Geneva and St. Charles as a north-south corridor. Work began in summer 2024 and was completed in spring 2025.

The $6.2 million project also replaced failing pavement, improved drainage and safety, enabled trucks, completed bike trail connections and will support economic development, officials said.

Speaking to the City Council March 2, City Engineer Brian Davids, who led the project, said it involved Geneva, St. Charles, West Chicago, Kane and DuPage counties and the jurisdictions of DuPage Airport and the Union Pacific Railroad.

Davids described Kautz Road as having a lot of challenges – going back and forth between two and three lanes, not being able to accommodate truck traffic and flooding.

Stormwater infrastructure was installed along the whole section, improving drainage and ending the flooding, Davids said.

“It went from a three-lane cross-section – so one lane each way with a center lane – down to a two-lane cross-section, then back out to a three-lane cross-section,” Davids said. “What’s less obvious about that is that two-lane cross-section was also not a truck route. ... Anybody bringing in large truckloads had to go around and probably up through Swenson or up to Route 64, rather than being able to access that directly from Route 38.”

The new stormwater system connects to the airport’s trunk line, so the houses on the St. Charles side won’t flood anymore, he said.

“The Illinois Prairie Path now connects from the west side of Kautz Road all the way from Route 64 to Route 38,” Davids said. “There is not only vehicle connectivity, but there is also bike connectivity, which is a huge improvement for this area.”

Davids also cited the MWI Property Group, which owns more than 200 acres zoned light industrial on the south side of Illinois Route 38.

The City Council approved a tax increment financing district – or TIF – to help pay for the signalization, utility extensions and stormwater management for the Kautz project, officials said in 2024.

A TIF is a tool local governments use to encourage development.

“This then is just a really nice continuation of an industrial corridor ... that connects everything from that new industrial park ... to that airport, as well as Route 64,” Davids said.

The project also required land acquisition.

Part of the city’s curb encroached on a parcel at the southwest corner of Averill and Kautz roads that was privately owned – but the landowner did not know he owned it, he said.

“We had to do a bunch of digging and ultimately found out that this person got this from their family, passed down to them,” Davids said, “They basically didn’t want to own up to the fact that they had it, because that would mean that they had to pay back taxes.”

A section of Kautz Road also has a jog in it because the first few landowners on the St. Charles side did not want to give up any land, Davids said.

“They thought when we stopped bugging them ... that meant we were not just going to do the project,” Davids said. “We took more from the east side because the airport was willing to work with us on that. So there’s a little bit of a jog. It’s not significant. You don’t feel it when you’re driving.”

Mayor Kevin Burns asked if drivers should honk when they go north to St. Charles through that section.

“I won’t advise that,” Davids said. “I don’t want those residents mad at me.”

Almost $5 million, or 78%, of the cost was to be provided by the Illinois Transportation Enhancement Program, Truck Access Route Program and the Kane/Kendall Council of Mayors Surface Transportation Program, according to the intergovernmental agreement. The cities shared the rest, officials said.

The Fox Valley Branch of the APWA will submit the Kautz Road project for consideration at the Chicago Metro Chapter level, which includes 1,500 members in five branches throughout the region, officials said.

The award is the seventh for Geneva to earn Project of the Year.

Previous recognitions were for State Street improvements in 1995; Third Street improvements in 2002; the Water Treatment Facility Construction in 2009; the Third Street commuter parking deck in 2016; the Wastewater Treatment Plan update and South Street Bridge replacement, both in 2019.

APWA is an international association representing public agencies, private sector companies and individuals in public works.