City hopes to get East State added to list of road work

By Thomas V. Bona

BusinessRockford.com

SCROLL FOR PAST COVERAGE

ROCKFORD — Between the federal stimulus package and the upcoming state capital plan, the state’s road system in Rockford will soon be in the best condition it’s been in a while.

In fact, once all this work is done in the next few years, pretty much every major state road through the city will have gotten a face-lift.

Except one.

East State Street has a pair of bumpy stretches that could use some work, and city officials are lobbying for a way to get them fixed.

The problem areas are between Sixth Street and Fairview Avenue and Alpine and Perryville roads. As many as 37,000 vehicles use the road per day, making it the busiest non-interstate in Rockford.

The western part is particularly bad, said Patrick Zuroske, Rockford’s capital program manager. If nothing’s done soon, substantial work could be needed later.

“It’s going to last another winter or two at the most. Now is the time to resurface,” he said. “It will deteriorate rapidly.”

The eastern part, in the middle of Rockford’s major commercial stretch, is crumbling in the middle lanes.

City officials had hoped work could be done using federal stimulus funds left over when this year’s crop of resurfacing projects came in several million dollars below budget.

But the Illinois Department of Transportation had to use that money quickly or it would lose the funds, so projects already on its five-year plan were slotted. In Winnebago County, IDOT will resurface Illinois 75 between Rockton and Meridian Road, a $2.8 million project, next year.

The Illinois 75 project is the last piece in a major face-lift for the road between Rockton and Freeport.

The state rebuilt the road between Freeport and Rock City and is now doing the same between Rock City and Durand. The rest of the road is being resurfaced, as it didn’t need a total rebuild, said John Wegmeyer, IDOT project implementation engineer.

Zuroske hopes that since the state was able to move up the Illinois 75 project thanks to stimulus funds, it could slip East State Street into its next five-year plan.

Not that local leaders don’t appreciate what they’re getting already.

Winnebago County got about $4 million in state road resurfacing projects this summer, thanks to federal stimulus funds. It stands to get more than $370 million in major and minor road work between 2009 and 2015, thanks to the capital plan and IDOT’s five-year road program.

Contact staff writer Thomas V. Bona at 815-987-1343 or tbona@rrstar.com.

PAST ROAD COVERAGE
Oct. 31: Less stop, more go ahead on Perryville
Oct. 31: County on money hunt for Bell School project
Oct. 28: 7 major projects to change way city looks
Oct. 22: Rockford to improve Sandy Hollow Road
Oct. 22: Perry Creek extension may aid tollway bid
May 18: Leaders wish traffic signal were a no-go

FEDERAL STIMULUS COVERAGE
Aug. 23: Stimulus projects restore some lost jobs
Aug. 20: Instead of Whitman, other roads will be fixed by stimulus
Aug. 6: Stimulus might help West State project
April 6: Rockford, Loves Park have many options for stimulus money