Construction to Widen 75th Street Set for 2012

This one’s going to be a doozy.

Construction to widen and resurface 75th Street will begin in early 2012, according to the DuPage County Highway Department.

The project will affect 75th Street from Woodward Avenue in Woodridge to Lyman Avenue in Darien. Lyman Avenue is the road that separates the complex that houses Walmart and T.G.I. Friday’s from the strip that houses Caribou Coffee, Jet Pizza and Smashburger.

Construction will go a little further than both Woodward Avenue and Lymen Avenue, said Kent Kuper, principal civil engineer for DuPage County.

The project is expected to be completed by the end of the year, but it’s safe to say it won’t be pretty in the meantime.

At times, traffic will be funneled down to one lane in each direction of 75th Street. When the project is done, 75th Street will have three lanes in each direction between the two streets.

To help handle storm water storage for the project, both the board and the board approved a resolution to enlarge a retention pond in .

Doing so allows the county to decrease the size of pipe needed in 75th Street for drainage. It also will help reduce standing water at the 10th hole of the golf course.

The agreement will allow the park district to pay $10,000 for a $100,000 project, Brandon Evans, golf manager of said at the park district’s Tuesday meeting.

He said the park district looked into doing similar work to the retention pond five or six years ago, and the estimate came to $100,000.

“This will keep flood waters on #10 down to a minimum,” Evans said. “It’s an ultimate benefit to the course.”

According to an intergovernmental agreement between DuPage County and the village for this project, the village has certain responsibilities including turf restoration, storm water permit review and payment of engineering fees for this project.

The village owns Village Greens. However, the operates and manages the course. Due to this agreement, the village transfers the $10,000 in cost it will be responsible for to the park district.

That means the $10,000 will come out of the park district’s budget; not the village’s.

“We think it’s a good intergovernmental agreement,” Evans said Tuesday. “We’re the manager of the course. Any expenses paid for permit fees will be paid out of revenues from golf course.”

Park District Board President Fred Hohnke was less optimistic. 

“It’s a way to get $10,000 out of the course,” he said. 

consistently has trouble with standing water. After heat and heavy rains in July, the course used $15,000 worth of chemicals to fight disease and minimize damage. Evans said when the course finally begins to dry out, “the heavens open up again.”

While this project will help drainage issues for the #10 hole, it won’t help drainage issues at other holes on the course.

The course hosted 7,095 rounds in July, down from 7,593 last year and its 16-year average of 8,005.