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Phase II of Des Plaines Streetscape Master Plan Now Complete

October 27th, 2015

City of Des Plaines.

The City is enjoying the recently reconstructed Ellinwood Street project, home to the City’s Taste of Des Plaines and weekly Farmers’ Market. Following the Miner Street (US Rte 14) Streetscape project completed last year, the City continues to successfully implement their Streetscape Master Plan, due in large part to the efforts of Jon Duddles, Assistant Director of Public Works and Engineering. The Master Plan Team (CBBEL, SPACECO, and Lakota) continues with the design/construction engineering efforts.

Streetscape amenities and materials are from the Master Plan pallet: granite banding of sidewalk with clay paver inlays, trees in grates (with structural soil, irrigation and lighting outlets), irrigated landscaped medians, seatwalls, planting beds, benches, and bike racks. The roadway and diagonal parking bays were patched and resurfaced, and new ADA compliant sidewalk, crossing ramps and parking spots were constructed. The project included a 12” water main on Lee Street (US Rte 12/45), connecting the Ellinwood Street water main to the Miner Street water main. This required directional boring a casing pipe 13 feet below the three Metra/Union Pacific tracks between Ellinwood Street and Miner Street. Detailed planning and coordination between IDOT, Union Pacific, IEPA were needed to work around the multiple public/private utility crossings and comply with permit restrictions.

The vibrancy and endurance of a streetscape relies on creating a walkable corridor that balances modal use needs and aligns key stakeholder expectations. Keys to achieving these goals include creating design/contract documents that properly allocate the available space (pedestrian space, vehicle lanes, parking, bike accommodations, green space, and programmable space), material selection (aesthetics, durability, sustainability, maintenance, and cost), and infrastructure improvement needs (wet utilities, drainage, and dry utilities). The City is well on its way to accomplishing these goals.

 

 

 

Improvements at northeast corner of Ellinwood Street and Lee Street

Bryan L. Luke, PE, CPESC
Project Manager, Civil Design Department