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Geneva engineer outlines Couts Road reconstruction after APWA award
Summary
City engineer Brian Davids told the council the Couts Road reconstruction — a multi-jurisdictional project that added truck capacity, stormwater infrastructure and a bike path link to the Illinois Prairie Path — received an American Public Works Association award; the project drew more than $4 million in grant funding.
Brian Davids, Geneva’s city engineer, presented the Couts Road reconstruction and widening project to the City Council and accepted an American Public Works Association award on the city’s behalf.
Davids said the project stretches roughly from the Longest Drive near Route 38 to Swenson Avenue near Route 64 and converted inconsistent cross-sections into a continuous, truck-rated roadway with new stormwater infrastructure and a bike path connection to the Illinois Prairie Path. "I'm Brian Davids. I'm the city engineer," he said while laying out the scope and partners.
Why it matters: the work removes a non‑truck, two‑lane bottleneck, improves drainage for residential areas on the corridor’s west side and creates regional bike and vehicle connectivity to the airport and nearby industrial development. Davids said five jurisdictions were involved in design and delivery, including St. Charles, West Chicago, DuPage County and Kane County, plus coordination with the airport and Union Pacific Railroad.
Key details: Davids said the project received "over $4 million in funding" from multiple regional transportation sources (referenced in his presentation as SCP, ITP and TARP among others) and that the full project cost was closer to $6–6.5 million, with Geneva carrying about two‑thirds of the local share. He described utility relocations (ComEd, AT&T), land acquisition challenges on the St. Charles side that produced a small jog in the roadway, and a temporary stripe adjustment used to protect newly poured curb when the final asphalt lift could not be placed before winter.
The presentation emphasized multimodal benefits: ‘‘there's now a bike path...the Illinois Prairie Path now connects along the west side of Couts Road,’’ Davids said, noting regional knock‑on effects as neighboring jurisdictions consider additional bike connections.
Council members congratulated the public‑works team for the award and for keeping the roadway open during construction phases. Davids said the Kirk Road bridge over Union Pacific, south of Route 38, is planned for future work and that the completed South Couts alignment could serve as a helpful detour once connected to future projects.
The council received the presentation and applauded staff; no formal vote was required for the award recognition.
