Residents of Peoria's near north side will encounter some roadway disruptions over the next several months as the city gets started on a long-term project to correct its stormwater drainage issue.
First-year construction on the city’s Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) Control Project is expected to begin Wednesday, weather permitting, in the area running southeast from Glen Oak Avenue to Adams Street, roughly between Spring and Cornhill.
Stemming from a settlement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the work is the first part in an 18-year effort to fix the overflow problem that causes raw sewage to flow into the Illinois River after heavy rain or snow melt.
“The city and the U.S. EPA had been negotiating for over a decade to come up with the long-term control plan, which is going to determine how the city addresses a combined sewer overflow issue,” said City Engineer Andrea Klopfenstein. “That was signed over a year ago, and so we're now in year one of construction.”
Klopfenstein said crews will be adding permeable pavers and bump-out planters in select locations throughout the project area. She said the work will necessitate closing off portions of the streets during the installations.
“We will be blocking driveways for short amounts of time, but we will communicate with people to let them know when we will be there. The contractor is going to kind of jump around a little bit so that we continue to provide access,” she said. “They're not going down one whole block and really making it difficult for people to get around and to get access into their house. We will work with the neighborhoods to try and provide as much access as we can while still accomplishing our project.”
Peoria experiences CSO between 20-30 times each year. Klopfenstein said the pavers and bump-outs will improve drainage and reduce the overflow frequency.
“These are permeable pavers which will let the stormwater runoff soak into the pavers and get into the rock underneath,” said Klopfenstein, adding the location for the first year of the project was chosen based on infiltration testing. “So that water is going to soak in through the paver system and then get into the soil and then a lot of it should soak into the ground and stay completely out of the stormwater system.”
Klopfenstein said the first-year construction should be completed by the end of 2022.
