Orchard Road Widening Means Village Water Main Must Move

The long-awaited Orchard Road widening project through Montgomery is scheduled to begin later this year. But first, the village has to get one of its water mains moved out of the way.

Village trustees on Monday night approved a $45,186 contract with Engineering Enterprises Inc. to kick off a project to move two sections of the Orchard Road water main. According to Director Mike Pubentz, one of the sections is roughly 2,400 feet, and another roughly 1,000 feet.

EEI will provide design and construction engineering services for the project, according to the contract.

The reason for the move, according to Pubentz, can be traced to revised plans for the Orchard Road project. A section of embankment will now be placed over the current location of the water main, leaving 10 feet of material on top of it. While not unprecedented, Pubentz said, this would make it more difficult to get at and repair.

The Kane County Division of Transportation is set to widen Orchard Road from two lanes to four, roughly between Jericho Road and Route 30, and may begin that work in June. The widening is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2012, and estimated to cost roughly $18.8 million, according to Paul Holcomb, project manager for KDOT.

However, he cautioned, the project is not set in stone for this year, and forward movement will depend on when KDOT can acquire all the right-of-way property. The project will also include interconnecting the traffic signals along that stretch, which will complete a network that runs from Route 30 to Mooseheart in Batavia.

Orchard Road through Montgomery sees an average of 35,000 cars daily, according to KDOT's most recent figures, and the section between Jericho Road and Route 30 is the only spot where it collapses to two lanes.

"That's why it's one of our top priorities, to get that built to four lanes," Holcomb said.

The project has been talked about for years, and village leaders are hoping it will alleviate traffic backups on Orchard Road. The water main project, which will be paid for out of water revenues, would coincide with the widening, Pubentz said.

Peter Wallers, president of EEI, also serves as Montgomery’s village engineer. He said the construction would be coordinated with Kane County, but the village should compete design work and get its permits in order before construction season starts.

“We don’t want to hold up the project because we didn’t get our work done,” agreed Village President Marilyn Michelini.

Trustees unanimously approved the contract Monday night.