Sandwich’s Main, Lafayette, Latham streets targeted for maintenance work later this year

SANDWICH - The City Council is planning several road maintenance projects this summer, including improvements to Main Street, Lafayette Street, Griswold Springs Road, Latham Street and Route 34.

On Main Street, the road will be resurfaced between Church and Railroad Streets, connecting the recently redone intersection of Main and Railroad streets to Church Street (Route 34). Lafayette Street will be resurfaced between Center and Arnold streets.

At a March 20 meeting the City Council approved an engineering agreement with Engineering Enterprises Inc., of Sugar Grove, for the fiscal year 2023 street program in an amount not to exceed $49,668. EEI will design the improvements to Main and Lafayette Streets.

City Administrator Geoff Penman said they are hoping to get the Main Street and Lafayette Street projects out to bid as soon as possible so construction can begin this summer.

At the same meeting, the council authorized the mayor to enter into an intergovernmental agreement with Little Rock Township for the repaving of Griswold Springs Road. Sections of the road are located within unincorporated areas of the township and the city, respectively.

The city would be responsible for $48,000 of the Griswold Springs Road improvement cost, per the agreement.

Over $3 million in Latham Street improvements, which were expected to start in April 2022, should also begin this summer, though Penman said they have not received a scheduled start date.

Penman said Latham Street will be detoured for motorists coming into Sandwich from the west on East Sandwich Road, but the route and timeline have not been confirmed.

City officials are also hopeful that the Illinois Department of Transportion will begin working on the Route 34 resurfacing and signal improvements this summer.

The city recently contracted a street assessment survey that found more than 80% of Sandwich streets in ‘poor or worse’ condition, and recommended a large increase in the city’s street repair budget.

EEI conducted the survey as part of the city’s pavement management program. EEI recommended the annual street maintenance budget be increased to $1 million to $1.3 million in 2024, and begin with several small projects in 2023.