Road construction a fact of Sidney life, now and in the near future

Road construction projects will continue to jog traffic across the city of Sidney for the foreseeable future. The Illinois Street project is well underway, which is evident to anyone who lives on the north side or who travels across town on Highway 30. City officials hope that work on this roadway will be complete by Oktoberfest. "It's progressing," said Sidney Public Services Director John Hehnke. "There have been afew twists along the way." The portion of the Illinois Street project which requires closure of the underpass has beenpushed back to August 12-18. Originally the city planned to close the only centrally located corridor to the north side during the first full week of August. This was postponeddue to delays caused by a gas line that was installed much closer to the surface than was expected at the intersection of 13th Ave. and Illinois. Before properly completing the project, this shallow gas main had to be relocated to a position deeper underground. During the time that the underpass is closed, the city will add an extra bus to routes on the north side. Once the stretch is blocked to traffic, a total of three buses will be making stops in that part of town said Sidney city manager Gary Person. "We'll do the best we can to make sure they get the service they normally do," Person said. Some parents are concerned that their children who take part in fall sports won't be able to make it to practice if they usually bike or walk across the overpass. At this point, the city plans for the bike lane on the overpass to be open while the main roadway on the underpass is closed, Person said. In addition to projects already underway, the city has quite a bit of construction planned for the next year. Sidney will soon take bids for the North Side Street projects, which are being paid for with a Commercial Development Block Grant. The city council voted to match funds for this grant. These projects will include replacement of four blocks of street, curb, gutter and sidewalkon Forrest Street from 14th Ave. to 17th Ave., and one block from Elm to Forrest on 17thAve. "We're hoping it'll get done in late summer to early fall," Person said. In the Spring, the 10th Ave. project will begin. It will start on 10th Ave. by the Burlington Railroad line and will extend to Highway 30. This portion of the street will

be completely rebuilt, from substructure to surfacing. The one block on Illinois St. at Hickory Square is proposed as part of this project, which will begin the next phase of the downtown plaza project. This project has already been bid out by the state.Another future project will be a resurfacing of Fort Sidney Road. This is scheduled to take place next year. The East Toledo and Greenwood extensions are being engineered now and will then be bid out after the design is complete. This will be an extensive project which features two new bridges as well as new drainage structures. The project is necessary to open up the entire East Sidney Development, which will house the new Sidney Regional Medical Center and the housing development planned for land purchased by Cabela's for that purpose. "When those go forward, there will be additional streets within those developments as well," Person said. This area will also accommodate the new elementary school if it is approved by the city. There will be quite a few other small projects in the next year as well, Person said. "We're gonna have our plate pretty full," Person said.This extensive list of roads projects were planned in response to the wants and concerns of Sidney's citizens, Person explained. Although all of these projects are funded by different sources, the overall price tag is a hefty one."All collectively together, they add up to about $10 million," Person said.