Joliet wrapping up water main jobs

The big water main project of 2022 is winding down but will start up again next year.

Some projects started this year won’t get done until 2023, a situation that a Joliet official said was due to supply-chain issues that affected the availability of pipeline.

The city is trying to make sure than no street ripped up this year will go unpaved before winter makes street work impossible.

“They better get going because it’s going to start snowing,” Jevon Slay said two weeks ago, looking out from his front porch onto a torn-up intersection of Hebbard and Third streets.

The weather, however, stayed warm as contractor Austin-Tyler Construction began repairing streets outside Slay’s home and others in the Oakview area the past week.. His neighborhood is one of 12 sections of the city where Joliet has installed new water mains this year in a project that includes replacing every water main built before 1970.

The city is replacing about 18 miles of water mains this year.

The Oakview project is wrapping up and will be completed, said Bill Baltz, deputy director of field operations for the city’s Utilities Department.

“They have to put the final coat for the asphalt down,” Baltz said Thursday, noting all that’s left after that is cleanup and coming back in the spring for landscaping for any areas where grass did not grow back.

Other areas will wait or may wait until next year for completion.

Those include:

• A section of Midland Avenue in the West Acres project where the city and contractor are trying to determine if there is still time to lay down a section of water main this year

• A section of Hickory Street in the River Bluff area

• A section of Essington Road running from Division Street to the Canadian National railroad tracks in an area outside of the Honda of Joliet dealership

Other areas are slated for completion this year, including a stretch of Laraway Road between Rowell Avenue and Briggs Street where construction can continue through the winter because the water mains are to the side of the street.

“Fortunately, we’ve completed each one of our projects on budget,” Baltz said.

The projects are expensive. Joliet expects to spend about $40 million in 2023 on water main replacements, which will be along some heavily traveled streets.

Sections of Plainfield Road, Collins Street, Black Road, Ingalls Avenue and Center Street are scheduled for water main replacement in 2023. A large part of the St. Pat’s Neighborhood also will get new water mains.

A downtown section that includes Joliet and Ottawa streets, originally scheduled for this year, was pushed back to 2023.

“We have approximately 21 miles slated for next year,” Baltz said,