More than $5M in county road projects set for this year

By CAMDEN LAZENBY clazenby@shawmedia.com

SYCAMORE – More than $5.3 million worth of county road and culvert improvements is headed to DeKalb County this year, officials said.

DeKalb County Highway Committee Chair Patrick Deutsch, a Republican from District 2, said it wasn’t unusual for more than a dozen projects to be approved by the County Board in April.

“In the spring that’s when it all comes through, so that everything is appropriated so that the projects get done throughout the summer, through the construction season,” Deutsch said.

Of the more than $5.3 million worth of projects approved, $3.7 million is being spent by the county on road sealing, pavement marking, hot mix asphalt overlays, culvert replacement and roof restoration project.

The rest of the $1.5 million worth of projects aren’t being funded by county dollars, DeKalb County Engineer Nathan Schwartz said. Instead, those projects are paid for by the motor fuel tax dollars generated within the local townships seeking approval for the projects.

“That money the state of Illinois collects, then distributes to the state, the counties, the townships, the municipalities and that is state money; and by state law the counties hold that [motor fuel tax], that state [motor fuel tax] dollars on behalf of the townships,” Schwartz said.

In DeKalb city, Peace Road north of

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Interstate 88 is undergoing construction meant to widen the roadway this year. North First Street and Lucinda Avenue bridges are undergoing $5.6 million replacements, with detours expected to last through the process.

Fewer than 3 miles of West County Line and Lee roads – west of Shab - bona, near the village of Lee – will be given a hot asphalt mix overlay by Advanced Asphalt Co., of Princeton, for $646,313, according to county documents. West County Line Road between U.S. Route 30 and the Village of Lee, as well as Lee Road between the county line and Tower Road were last paved in 1997 and 1996, respectively.

The 2023 resurfacing project will be funded by using $350,000 from state motor fuel tax funds and $350,000 from the county’s local matching tax funds, according to county documents.

Schwartz said that project is slated to begin later this spring but said there

See PROJECTS, page 12

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News Briefs

Film noir program set for May 27 at DeKalb library

DeKALB – The DeKalb Public Library will host a presentation on classic mystery authors as part of its monthly film noir program.

The event will be held at 2 p.m. May 27 in the library’s lower-level Zimmerman Meeting Room, 309 Oak St., according to a news release.

The program is free and intended for teens and adults.

Attendees will discuss classic mystery authors and detectives. The program will showcase the authors’ best-known stories, main characters, and film clips. Authors include James M. Cain, Cornell Woolrich, Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler and W.R. Burnett. The author this month is Dashiell Hammett. No registration is required to attend.

For information, email thomask@dkpl. org or call 815-756-9568, ext. 2150.

Mental health lunch program to be held May 31 at Genoa library

GENOA – The Genoa Public Library will host a mental health awareness lunch and learn program for Mental Health Awareness Month.

The free event will be held at noon May 31 in the library’s event room, 240 W. Main St., according to a news release.

Cheryl Hahn, a lead recovery support specialist, will share her personal mental health recovery story. Attendees also can learn about mental health recovery opportunities.

Patrons are encouraged to bring their own lunch.

For information, call 815-784-2627. –ShawLocalNewsNetwork

A truck travels down a stretch of Leland Road on April 27, about 3.5 miles south of Waterman, that will be resurfaced with a hot asphalt mix. This is one of the projects the DeKalb County Highway Department has planned for the summer.

• PROJECTS

Continued from page 10 are several other DeKalb County Highway Department Projects that are underway.

Some of those projects are done by Highway Department workers, who are routing and crack filling roadways, which help prevent moisture from getting under road surfaces.

Roadwork is being done off Route 23, in subdivisions north of Sycamore Middle School.

A 2023 Sycamore Road District hot asphalt mix overlay project also was approved to Peter Baker & Son Co, for $532,320. The Lake Bluff company will construct improvements 4 miles of various roads in Sycamore, including Oakland Drive, Thomas Drive, Florence Drive, Henderson Road, Ellen Drive and Swanson Road, according to county documents.

“This is a typical start to the construction season coming out of winter, when the county is doing the spring preventative maintenance projects,” Schwartz said. “And we always have one or two contractors that are ready to get started right away and do DeKalb County projects before they get started in other counties.”

The largest Highway Department contract – $2,158,149 million – the DeKalb County Board approved in April was awarded to Helm Civil of Freeport, for 81 miles of seal coating to various county, township and village roads, according to county documents.

“We do have a lot of paving projects this year and not the typical big projects, this year here in 2023,” Schwartz said. “The big bridge projects – we have some coming up next year in 2024 that we’ll be working on, but this year is mostly pavement and small culverts for 2023.”