Work on Sterling’s street and road projects is shifting into higher gear for 2026.

One of the major road projects that Sterling drivers will see is resurfacing of Fourth Street, Illinois Route 2, from Locust Street to 19th Avenue.

“They are going to replace all the ADA ramps on each corner and then grind and overlay the road from Locust to 19th. It’s a big project,” said Brad Schrader, Sterling public works superintendent.

The project is expected to be let for bid at the Illinois Department of Transportation’s Feb. 27 bid letting.

The city of Sterling is advertising for bids for resurfacing work on Griswold and Woodburn avenues.

That project will include resurfacing of Woodburn Avenue from 11th Street to Le Fevre Road and Griswold Avenue from Ninth Street to Le Fevre Road and the side streets.

“That will include curb and gutter work, stormwater work, sidewalks and a multi-use path on the Scheid Park side of the street,” Schrader said.

The Griswold/Woodburn project is estimated to cost about $4.5 million, said Scott Shumard, Sterling city manager. The Fourth Street project is estimated around $2.75 million.

Work also will be done on the Avenue G bridge.

“We are going to start doing some bridge deck maintenance work on Avenue G bridge. That will be spread over two to three years, depending on how budget numbers look and what they find once they get into it. That was estimated to be about a million dollars in bridge deck repairs,” Shumard said.

Responsibility for repair and maintenance of the bridge is split between the city and the Illinois Department of Transportation.

“IDOT controls the bridge over the river and then it’s our bridge over the railroad tracks. We did structural rehabilitation four years ago and now we’re looking at the deck rehabilitation in sections. It won’t be the entire deck; it will be the places that the engineers identify as needing work,” Shumard said.

The IDOT portion of the bridge had rehabilitation and repair work done about four years ago.

With the two major projects to pay for, Shumard said the city also will continue with residential street work.

“We will still have room for doing some of our residential streets. It won’t be as intensive as it’s been the last couple of years, in all likelihood,” Shumard said.

Residential streets are prioritized for repair with the help of an engineer.

“We use an engineer to help us rate the streets and roads. They go out, rate the roads based on drainage, traffic, condition and then we pick them off the list from top to bottom as we can afford them,” Shumard said.