The city is working to resurface Aurora Avenue, Eagle Street and Shuman Boulevard this summer. City officials say they are saving money by doing the work a year early after a brutal winter that damaged roads beyond normal repairs. City Engineer Bill Novak said Wednesday that "the cost of asphalt is skyrocketing, and we don't see the trend changing next year or anytime in the future." Novak said the city decided to forgo the patchwork that was planned for Aurora Aveneu and begin resurfacing the street along with medians -- both of which were planned for 2009.
What do you think of the work under way on our streets? As columnist Tim West wrote in a column this week, with the downturn in the economy, it might not be the best time to beautify our roads. But then again, maybe we should just count our blessings.
I'm sure glad that NAPERVILLE can afford those cute little planters on Aurora Ave.. At least they also noticed its' terrible condition and resurfaced it while they were at it.
Why is that we're only now seeing Aurora Avenue resurfaced? It's been in this horrendous condition since at least February. And to make the insult even worse, we had to wait for them install median planters before they dealt with the surface issue. Typical bass-akwards process in Naperville.
RJ is right. Work on Ogden is a more complicated issue.
Aurora Avenue is a mess, far worse than Ogden. If it was patched, it would require widespread work. Given the condition of the road, resurfacing this year makes a lot of sense. I am glad they were able to get it done rather than pay for extensive patching this year and resurfacing next.
Naperville is doing Aurora Ave first because they don't own Ogden, nor are they responsible for any repairs on it.
I'm guessing that Aurora Ave. has priority over Ogden Ave. due to the Naperville Police Dept. being headquartered on Aurora along with some of the other city services....maybe I'm just cynical!
Medians are important - they beautify and provide seperation. All for them if they are in the budget.
However, I would have thought Ogden would have received priority over Aurora Ave...Ogden is more prominent road.
Also would have been nice to seem them speed up the sidewalk program (ie, filling in all the spots that have missing sidwalks in the downtown are).
Over on the unincorporated section of Hillside we've been waiting 2 years to have our roads redone...including curbs and city water service if you so choose. It's been put off and put off due to the price increase. What's the point? Is the price going to go down in another year or two? No, in fact it's just going to get more expensive due to increasing wages, cost of materials, etc. I say just do it and be done with it! We're supposed to be an incredibly wealthy town, right?
I'm all for beautifying the streets. If now is a good time, I say go for it.