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Villa Park outlines major sewer separation and resurfacing plans, cites funding hurdles
Summary
Assistant Village Manager Mike Guerra detailed the village’s public-works priorities — a $15.5 million Washington Corridor sewer-separation project, resurfacing contracts that came in under estimate and new continuous road-survey technology — while noting competitive grant processes and IDOT design approvals slow timelines.
Assistant Village Manager Mike Guerra told residents at Saturday’s Coffee with the Board that Villa Park’s public-works team is prioritizing sewer separation, resurfacing and sidewalk improvements but that funding and state approvals will dictate when work begins.
Guerra said the Washington Corridor project — a combined sewer separation that requires a new 54-inch trunk storm pipe and related road rebuilding — is the village’s largest remaining infrastructure effort and is estimated at about $15.5 million. He said the village has applied for competitive funding and is awaiting a federal/agency decision expected in July that will partly determine whether construction can begin in 2028 and continue into 2029.
The project is intended to separate storm and sanitary flows in older sections of town and to provide trunk-line capacity so the village can proceed on Yale Avenue and other corridors. "We build the roads and then we’re separating all of Euclid out and rebuilding it," Guerra said, summarizing the multiyear sequencing.
Guerra also reviewed the village’s pavement-condition work and resurfacing plans. He said the village uses Pavement Condition Index (PCI) surveys to prioritize work and recently reduced survey costs by mounting cameras on vehicles and using AI analysis. He said the approach lets staff show the board where additional funding is needed.
On recent contracts, Guerra said the Terrace Alley project was awarded at roughly $146,000 and that resurfacing bids for this year came in under estimate, with one package referenced at about $460,000 for construction. He said those contracts include areas that will be rebuilt — not merely surface overlays — where sidewalks and ADA upgrades are required.
Guerra described a move to continuous pavement monitoring: the village is transitioning survey cameras to a solution that can be mounted on the street sweeper so the roads are recorded regularly and the software can auto-generate work orders for potholes.
The assistant village manager cautioned that regional approvals remain a gating factor. He said the village works through CMAP and DuPage regional channels and that IDOT preliminary design approvals for some corridors have been pending for more than a year, delaying construction even when funding and designs exist.
The village also plans sidewalk investment this year, combining a $600,000 state allocation secured by state Rep. Diane Cherberla with locally funded projects. "We’re trying to put a dent in the backlog," Guerra said.
What’s next: staff will continue grant applications, refine designs, and return to council with funding requests once design approvals and grant awards are clearer.
