Calumet City leaders approved a contract award and accepted grant-funded planning work aimed at rebranding and redesigning Burnham Avenue and other corridors. The City Council voted to move forward with the design and installation of monument signs funded by a Rebuild Illinois grant and discussed larger, federally backed planning studies for Pulaski and Wentworth avenues.

City Engineer Ken Chastain told the council the city received $750,000 from the stateRebuild Illinois program and a separate Main Street grant of about $686,000 to begin Burnham Avenue improvements, including six monument signs and decorative banners along the corridor. He said the federal Surface Transportation Program provided $2.3 million for preliminary planning on Wentworth and that a $3 million federal grant would start planning work for Pulaski Avenue. Chastain said additional federal planning and engineering design work approaching $7 million is expected in the next 12 months.

The awards matter because the grants pay for corridor-level planning and streetscape elements the city cannot fund alone, Chastain said. He told the council the monuments will be solar-lit and IDOT will need to approve signs placed in that right of way.

Council members discussed how the work intersects with state jurisdiction. Chastain and other staff described the Burnham Avenue program as branding and streetscape-focused: monument signs at the State Street bridge and Michigan City Road termini, banners on light poles, planter upgrades and a broader Phase 1 planning study that could consider converting four lanes to two lanes to slow traffic and add parking and pedestrian amenities. Chastain said the monument design will come back to the council for approval and emphasized that IDOT permitting is required because the state owns much of the road.

Aldermen asked for design previews and clarified scope: the monument contract awarded to Rota Signs will include design work but final designs must be approved by the city before installation. Alderman Gardner asked about imagery and maintenance for planters; staff said public works would manage planting options and that designs would be chosen to reduce long-term maintenance burdens.

Council action: the council approved the resolution package that included the Rota Signs bid award and related grant acceptances. Staff said Rota already is preparing concepts and the city plans to route designs back to the council in a workshop or committee-of-the-whole meeting so aldermen can provide input before installations begin.

The city described the work as the start of a multi-stage process: a branding-focused use of the Rebuild Illinois/Main Street funds (monuments, banners, planters) plus separate federal-funded Phase 1 planning studies that may lead to later design and construction phases subject to additional approvals and funding.

Whathappens next: staff will present sign and streetscape designs to the council for review and will coordinate IDOT permitting and a tight installation timeline for the monument signs, with the goal of completing the signage work within the year. The larger corridor planning studies will proceed under the federal process (Phase 1 planning leading to later design and construction phases).