As the weather begins to warm, construction is set to ramp up throughout downtown Rochelle.

The city expects the project to continue through December 2026. An update will be sent out every one to two weeks with current happenings and upcoming changes.

Week of March 2: Helm Construction will begin working in the alley between Fourth and Fifth avenues, adjacent to the downtown parking lots/stage area, any day now. The alley will be closed with no access to rear entrances of buildings in the 400 block of Lincoln Highway. The alley will be fenced during this portion of the project. Parking lots 1 and 2 will remain open.

Week of March 9: DPI Construction will return to begin excavation for the footings of the stage. The alley will remain closed. Parking lots 1 and 2 will remain open; however, rear access to the buildings in the 400 block of Lincoln Highway will be restricted.

Construction on the Fourth Avenue storm sewer is also expected to begin in early March. The first section planned for construction is between Main Street and Lincoln Highway. The westbound lane of Fourth Avenue will be closed.

Signs have arrived and will be installed soon to share the project updates and parking information with anyone visiting downtown Rochelle. The signs have QR codes that will direct visitors to a page on the city website dedicated to construction updates and as a business directory. Flashing construction trailers with “Downtown businesses open during construction” are in place now.

The closest municipal parking lots to the affected businesses and residences are:

• Lot 17 – Corner of Lincoln Avenue and Lincoln Highway
• Lot 5 – Corner of Main Street and Cherry Avenue (with the VFW mural)
• Lot 6 – Corner of Lincoln Highway and Cherry Avenue (RMU parking lot)
• Lot 13 – Corner of Lincoln Highway and Sixth Avenue (County building parking lot)
• Lot 7 – Along Sixth Street, behind the Flagg Township Museum

The city anticipates that all of the lots along Main Street (Lots 1-3) will be closing in mid-April for reconstruction of the lots.

With alley access limited, dumpsters will be relocated temporarily to Lincoln Highway. A dumpster will be located at Lincoln Highway and Fourth Avenue and Lincoln Highway and Fifth Avenue as well as in the center of Lincoln Highway, near the Hope Chest/Distillery. Receptacles will be relocated as soon as possible.

To create additional parking spaces along Lincoln Highway, the 400 block will temporarily become a one-way street and diagonal parking spaces will be drawn out. This adds more spaces in front of the downtown buildings during the construction period and will take place once all the Main Street lots are closed and the Fourth Avenue storm sewer portion of the project begins in March.

New storm sewer will be installed in the alley and on Fourth Avenue from Main Street to El Sol between Lincoln Highway and Sixth Street. This will begin in March, but an exact start date is not available at this time. Intermittent lane closures along Fourth Avenue for approximately a month are anticipated.

For questions or concerns during the project, contact:

• Michelle Pease, community development director, 815-561-2073, mpease@rochelleil.us
• Sam Tesreau, interim city manager/city engineer, 815-561-2023, stesreau@rochelleil.us
• Blake Toliver, electric superintendent, 815-561-2034, btoliver@rmu.net
• Tim Isley, public works director, 815-561-2078, tisley@rochelleil.us
• Jenny Thompson, communications director/assistant to the city manager, 815-561-2006, jthompson@rochelleil.us