City anticipates $16 million in road work

An unprecedented number of street projects are planned for Sidney in the next year.

Hank Radtke of the street department presented his one year and six year plans for projects to the city council last week.

Street improvements for 2014 include work on 10th Ave. between Illinois and the BNSF tracks. This portion of the street will be completely rebuilt, from substructure to surfacing. Also set for this year is a mill and overlay of Fort Sidney Rd. Both of these projects have been bid out and awarded to contractors.

Also slated to begin construction this year is Forrest street, from 14th Ave. to 17th Ave. and 17th Ave. from Forrest St. to Elm St. The Toledo St. extension, which will connect Fort Sidney Rd to the 17J link near new developments, is scheduled to begin this spring, as well. In addition, the bridge on Fort Sidney Rd. is slated for replacement starting this work season.

Construction on the mill and overlay of Greenwood Rd from Highway 30 to Toledo St. should take place in 2014. This work will include bridge reconstruction on a major drainage culvert.

The 7th Ave. storm drain will be replaced this year with underground piping to take care of flooding issues and redirect storm water.

“That’s a very highly flooded area down there,” Radtke said.

This project will hopefully be wrapped up by fall.

“It’s an eyesore for all of us and it’s a problem for drainage,” Radtke said.

Other projects for 2014 in new development areas include an extension of Silverberg Dr. from Old Post Rd. to connect to the extension of Jennifer Ln. as well as an extension of Gregory Dr. The first three roads in The Ranch housing development are also scheduled for construction this year.

If not all the planned projects are finished this year, they will continue into next year.

In the next two to six years, the street department is planning work on Elm St. from 13th Ave to 17th Ave. Also within the next three years, the department foresees a state overlay of Illinois St. at around $750,000 for the city’s share of the costs. The timing for this project is at the discretion of the state.

Radtke anticipates work on 13th Ave. from Illinois to the BSNF tracks at some point in the near future.

“We would take some of the dips out and try to restructure the drainage somehow,” Radtke said.

Radtke commented on the high volume of projects this year.

“That’s a lot of stuff coming in,” Radtke said. “It’s kind of an exciting time for Sidney as we’re growing. Hopefully we’ll get most of the projects completed and done by fall.”

The total cost summary for projects in the next six years is around $16.8 million.

“I’ve been here 27 years and we’ve never had this big of budget and this many streets,” Radtke said.

Some of the upcoming projects have been a long time coming, after waiting in the planning stages for several years.

All of the upcoming projects will give Sidney about 14 more miles of road, Radtke said. The city currently has around 212 single lane miles.

Councilman Mark Nienhueser commented that the people living on 7th Ave from Jackson to Linden had dealt with flooding for long enough. Councilman Roger Gallaway expressed excitement over the planned 13th Ave. to the railroad tracks project, which would improve one of the major North and South corridors in the city.

As the street department completes projects it will attempt to replace the current storm drain and lay pipe, Radtke said.

“As we do any road projects, we’ll be trying to put storm drains in,” Radtke said. “It’s a lot nicer to deal with that water underground than on top of the ground.”

He added that when the city receives two to three inches of rain in a few hours, improved storm drains won’t make much difference.

The council approved the one and six year street plans.