Work on Polo’s storm sewer improvement project resumes for 2023

POLO — Work on Polo’s $3.5 million storm sewer improvement project resumed Monday after a winter break.

The Colden Street Project encompasses about 10.5 blocks in both the downtown business district and residential neighborhoods. It is meant to help regulate water buildup on Illinois Route 26 — known as Division Avenue in Polo city limits — during torrential rain events.

“On torrential rains, it [water] gets so deep on Route 26 there that it’s dangerous because cars tend to hydroplane,” Mayor Doug Knapp said. “Then down Colden, basements fill up with water.”

The project involves storm sewers and catch basins being added or expanded along parts of South Maple Avenue, West Buffalo Street, South Congress Avenue, Colden Street, West Mason Street and halfway into the east alley between Mason and Locus streets.

Work planned for this year includes about 2.5 blocks of underground work and blacktopping, Public Works Director Kendall Kyker said.

Kyker explained the planned steps for 2023 construction:

1. Do underground work on West Mason Street between South Congress and Division avenues. The process, which includes hooking up pipes, is expected to take a couple weeks.
2. In the area of West Buffalo Street and South Congress Avenue, construct and/or install new curbs, gutters, catch basins, driveways and sidewalks; lay binder — about 2 inches of blacktop that can be driven on; spread dirt and grass seeds.
3. Performing construction on half-a-block of Division Avenue, from Mason Street north to the alley on the east that runs behind the restaurants and stores. One block of that alley will undergo construction.
4. Cross Division Avenue/Route 26 at Colden Street, installing one block worth of pipeline between Division Avenue and South Franklin Avenue.
5. Install catch basins on half-a-block of South Franklin Avenue south of East Colden Street.
6. Lay a final layer of blacktop on all streets that underwent construction, paint parking lines, crosswalks and all other necessary road markers.

Crews from the Colden Street Project’s main contractor — Martin & Co., of Oregon — currently are working on West Mason Street.

Willett, Hofmann & Associates, of Dixon, are the project engineers. Helm Civil, of Freeport, is doing the blacktop.

“They will get done this year before fall,” Kyker said of the Colden Street Project. “This was a 400-day project — and that’s 400 working days. So they had all last summer and this summer, then both sprints and one fall.”

Much of the project is meant to be funded by two state grants — a $2 million Fast-Track Public Infrastructure grant from August 2020 and a $500,000 Community Development Block Grant for public infrastructure from January 2019. Polo City Council members approved general obligation bonds to pay the remaining portion, for which the city is directly responsible.

“If we wouldn’t have received those grants, there’s no way we could have done the entire project,” Knapp said.