Dixon council OKs $1.4M for street work. Is your road on the list?

DIXON – The Dixon City Council has approved two contracts related to its $1.4 million fiscal 2026 street resurfacing project.

The scope of the project being completed by Helm Civil Construction includes 11 roads, seven alleys and brick work on the crosswalks throughout the downtown area, with construction to begin in late July or early August.

The entire cost of the project is about $65,000 under the amount the city budgeted and will be paid using motor fuel tax and infrastructure funds. Projects included in the contracts approved by the council June 16 include:

• Washington Avenue from just past the Lee County Housing Authority building to the dead end.
• Tile Factory Road.
• Beech Drive from the curve to Marvid Avenue.
• Elm Place from Division Street to Walnut Avenue.
• South Jefferson Avenue from East Seventh Street to East Eighth Street.
• East Fourth Street from South Dement Avenue to Artesian Place.
• Artesian Place from East Third Street to East Fourth Street.
• Highland Avenue from West Seventh Street to West First Street.
• Custer Avenue from West Third Street to West Fourth Street.
• Railroad Street from West 10th Street to West 11th Street.
• Dutch Road from the dead end to Rhodenbaugh Road.
• Seven alleys on Dixon’s west end.

The focus of the project will be on resurfacing those streets, but some work will also be completed at the intersections to ensure they’re in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, Dixon Mayor Glen Hughes said in an interview with Shaw Local Radio.

There’s also going to be some work on the sidewalks, most of which will be done on Lowell Park Road from Canterbury House Apartments to the Lowell Park Plaza “because that’s really fairly dangerous,” Hughes said. “We have people coming down Lowell Park Road through that area they’re walking in the streets.”

“By including sidewalks in that package we believe we got more bang for the buck,” he said.

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The city of Dixon will be performing road work on several streets at the conclusion of the Petunia Festival. Highland Avenue from West Seventh Street to West First Street is on the list. (Alex T. Paschal)

Separate from the street resurfacing project, Chicago Avenue and South Galena Avenue are currently under construction by the Illinois Department of Transportation. The bulk of that work will be put on pause during Dixon’s Petunia Festival from July 3 to 6, Public Works Director Matt Heckman said.

“IDOT has been super cooperative. They have some internal rules that dictate what they can do during holidays and things like that. So their goal is always to open things up to the maximum that’s safe for them to do so,” Heckman said.

The only area that Heckman said he knows that will not be fully open “will be the railroad bridge just past Division Street on South Galena Avenue.”

“That’ll still be one lane each direction, and that’s really just due to the nature of the work. You can’t put cars where there’s no pavement,” he said.