Street, school safety improvements moving forward in Dixon

DIXON – Work is in full swing for the $2.25 million project to make street and safety improvements near Reagan Middle School.

In 2019, the city received a $200,000 Safe Routes to School grant to make safety upgrades in that area due to traffic concerns, especially where South Galena Avenue meets Division Street.

“If things go really well, there’s potential that we could even be further along than we anticipate at this moment.”

—  Matt Heckman, Dixon public works director

The project was expanded to include nearby streets and road resurfacing. The city also did water main work along Division Street in 2021 in anticipation of the project.

Work recently started on Division Street and Hemlock Avenue, and Public Works Director Matt Heckman said the project should be mostly complete by the start of the school year.

“It will be substantially complete. We’ll work around the beginning of the school year, and we’ll be out of there fairly shortly after the year kicks off,” Heckman said. “If things go really well, there’s potential that we could even be further along than we anticipate at this moment.”

Galena Avenue will see sidewalk extensions from Division to West 10th streets, as well as new ramps, curbs, street markings and signage. There will be lighted signage at Patrick’s Court and Division.

Division Street and Fargo Avenue will get new sidewalks, curbs and repaved road with hot-mix asphalt. Street markings also will be improved to be more visible where Division Street becomes a one-way in front of Reagan Middle School and front parking is located.

Work also will be done to fill in patches of sidewalk on the east side of Hemlock Avenue and west side of Chestnut Avenue, both from Pine to Division streets. Walnut will have a new sidewalk on the east side from Division to Ash Court.

In March, the Dixon City Council approved a construction engineering agreement with Fehr Graham Engineering and Environmental for $192,984 for the project.

[ Dixon council approves funding for Safe Routes to School project ]

The federal Safe Routes to School program reimburses projects that aim to make areas more walk- or bike-friendly for students going to and from school, and funds are administered by the Illinois Department of Transportation.