A portion of one of the main north-south thoroughfares through Berwyn is closed as workers reconstruct and repave the road, and there will be more closures to come. 

The Berwyn Public Works Department closed East Avenue from 16th Street to Roosevelt Road last month to complete repaving.

The street repaving follows a sewer rehabilitation project, according to John Fitzgerald, a consulting city engineer from Frank Novotny and Associates.

“We televised the sewer lines earlier this year and reviewed the tapes to see what needed attention,” Fitzgerald said.

About spots in the sewer line needed rehabilitation in the four-block stretch of road, Fitzgerald said.

The road is currently closed from Roosevelt Road to 16th Street as workers reconstruct and repave. Berwyn Public Works Director Robert Schiller said workers are in the process of milling more than an inch-and-a-half of the road and the under-layer that has failed in the pavement. The project should be complete by Thanksgiving, Schiller said.

About 90 percent of the cost of the project is being paid for by a grant by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Schiller said the city received about $330,000 for the first portion of the project, and about $720,000 for the second portion of the reconstruction project, which is slated to begin in the spring.

The city will spend about $150,000 on the two projects, Schiller said.

“It is almost like 90 cents on the dollar that we received in grant money,” Schiller said.

Next year’s project includes work on East Avenue from 15th Street to 18th Street, along with a compete repaving of East from Roosevelt Road to Cermak Road. The second leg of the project is scheduled to be complete by the end of the summer, Schiller said.

Timeline for East Avenue construction

OCTOBER 2009 Road closed between 16th Street and Roosevelt Road to complete sewer rehabilitation and repaving

LATE NOVEMBER East Avenue to be reopened

SPRING 2010 East Avenue closed between 15th and 18th streets, to be repaved from Roosevelt Road to Cermak Road

END OF SUMMER Repaving completed on East Avenue, road to be reopened