As the weather begins to warm, construction is set to ramp up throughout downtown Rochelle, a Feb. 20 city of Rochelle news release said.

The city expects the project to continue through December 2026. Updates will be sent out every 1-2 weeks.

Week of Feb. 23: Beginning mid-week, Helm Construction will be working in the alley between Fourth and Fifth avenues, adjacent to the downtown parking lots/stage area. The alley will be closed for approximately two weeks with no access to rear entrances of buildings in the 400 block of Lincoln Highway. The alley will be fenced during this portion of the project. Parking lots 1 and 2 off Main Street will remain open.

Week of March 2: DPI Construction will return to begin excavation for the footings of the stage. The alley will remain closed this week. Parking lots 1 and 2 will remain open; however, rear access to the buildings in the 400 block of Lincoln Highway will be restricted.

Signage: Signs are on order to share the project updates and parking information with anyone visiting downtown Rochelle. The signs have QR codes that will direct visitors to a page on the city website dedicated to construction updates and as a business directory.

Parking: The closest municipal parking lots to the affected businesses and residences are:

• Lot 17 – Corner of Lincoln Avenue and Lincoln Highway.
• Lot 5 – Corner of Main Street and Cherry Avenue (with the VFW mural).
• Lot 6 – Corner of Lincoln Highway and Cherry Avenue (RMU parking lot).
• Lot 13 – Corner of Lincoln Highway and Sixth Avenue (County building parking lot)
• Lot 7 – Along Sixth Street, behind the museum. The city anticipates that all of the lots along Main Street (lots 1-3) will be closing in mid-April for reconstruction of the lots. Updates will continue as that portion of the project draws near.

Trash dumpsters: With alley access limited, dumpsters will be relocated temporarily to Lincoln Highway. A dumpster will be located at Lincoln Highway and Fourth Avenue and Lincoln Highway and Fifth Avenue as well as in the center of Lincoln Highway, near the Hope Chest/Distillery. Receptacles will be relocated as soon as possible.

Lincoln Highway parking: To create additional parking spaces along Lincoln Highway, the 400 block will temporarily become a one-way street and diagonal parking spaces will be drawn out. This adds more spaces in front of the downtown buildings during the construction period and will take place once all of the Main Street lots are closed and the Fourth Avenue storm sewer portion of the project begins in March.

Storm sewer: New storm sewer will be installed in the alley and on Fourth Avenue from Main Street to El Sol between Lincoln Highway and Sixth Street. This will begin in March, but an exact start date is not available at this time. The city anticipates intermittent lane closures along Fourth Avenue for approximately a month.

For questions or concerns during the project, please contact:

• Michelle Pease, city of Rochelle community development director, at 815-561-2073 or mpease@rochelleil.us.
• Sam Tesreau, interim city manager/city engineer, at 815-561-2023 or stesreau@rochelleil.us.
• Blake Toliver, electric superintendent, at 815-561-2034 or btoliver@rmu.net.
• Tim Isley, public works director, at 815-561-2078 or tisley@rochelleil.us.
• Jenny Thompson, communications director/assistant to the city manager, at 815-561-2006 or jthompson@rochelleil.us.