As a former educator, Peoria City Council member Chuck Grayeb relished having students by his side to celebrate the completion of a major road project.
Surrounded by children from Concordia Lutheran School, Grayeb joined city officials Friday at a ribbon cutting for the $13.6 million reconstruction of Glen Avenue between War Memorial Drive and University Street.
“It's absolutely wonderful, especially considering that we had our first meeting about this project at Concordia Lutheran, and then finishing today with the boys and girls participating in the ribbon cutting,” Grayeb said. “It's very, very meaningful, and it's a beautiful day.”
The upgrades include new concrete pavement, curbs and gutters, and storm sewers, as well as sidewalk and ADA ramp improvements. New traffic signals were installed at the intersections with Glen Park Place and with Dawn Drive, in front of Concordia.
“The road was in terrible condition, and we garnered our master engineer (and) kind of outlined the sources that we used to rebuild this,” Grayeb said. “And they did it — with the help of some of the weather; we didn't have as many rains — they did it in, I think, record time.”
City engineer Andrea Klopfenstein said the city got $7.6 million for the project from the state’s Rebuild Illinois capital investment program. She said the rest of the money came from city motor fuel tax and stormwater utility funds.
“The pavement was in need of repair; it was failing, and if we would have had money to fix it earlier, we would have,” she said. “But we thank everyone for their patience to get us to this point.”
While construction on the one-mile stretch of Glen started in March 2023, Klopfenstein said the project had been in development well before then.
“Engineering projects take a really long time,” she said. “We have to budget, look for funding, then start design. This design took, I think, three years to get completed. We also have to look at coordinating with property owners, getting easements, and then we go into construction.”
Grayeb said the reconstruction of Glen and other recently completed road projects stand as examples of Peoria’s commitment to improving infrastructure.
“We have had many dedications recently. Just the other day, we had Wisconsin Avenue; we had the MacArthur (Highway bridge) in District Two as well, at the top of the hill where Moss (Avenue) hits; that was a soft opening,” Grayeb said.
“We're continuing our work downtown with the two-way to one-way conversion, a $20 million project on Adams and Jefferson. So we're moving at a pace, not only in this district but other districts with the entire city.”
Klopfenstein acknowledged while Peoria has many other roads worthy of upgrades, the city also need to take a measured approach.
“The city is very committed to prioritizing infrastructure and transportation infrastructure. It's just really expensive, and our funding is limited,” she said. “So we do the best we can to look at asset condition, look at traffic volumes and other factors to help select which projects we complete.”
Klopfenstein said drivers will notice and appreciate the new conditions on Glen Avenue.
“Now that the pavement is smooth, we still need to encourage everybody to drive the speed limit and slow down and make sure that we're driving appropriately,” she said.
For Grayeb, the project’s biggest benefit comes in how it helps keep Peoria in good shape for its younger residents.
“I think more than anything, the reaction of the children to it says a great deal about our people, the resilience of our people, and that this is for future generations of Peorians,” he said.
