South Broadway slated to be wrapped up by months end

“Cautiously optimistic,” are the two words Coal City Village Trustee Dave Spesia finds himself speaking as the South Broadway reconstruction deadline approaches.
As chairman of the village’s Streets and Alleys Committee, Spesia has been keeping a close eye on the downtown reconstruction project that is slated to be wrapped up by the end of the month.
Although an exact date for completion is not yet known, the trustee pointed out some of the finishing touches that have been put into place over the past few weeks, including new street signs.
“I am impressed with them, they look great,” Spesia said.
Mayor Terry Halliday agrees.
“The street signs do look really good. I was impressed as I walked uptown today, now we just need to get everything else done to move on and get back to normal on Broadway,” he said.
The mayor is not alone in his thoughts about getting the project competed. Spesia said he hoped to have a better timeline after a scheduled meeting with the engineer and contractor this week.
He did share that the new lighting fixtures have been tested and their installation is complete. Among the items that remain are a final layer of asphalt on the roadway and parkways and decorative items including benches, bike racks and planters.
During a board meeting on May 27, the trustee reported those items were expected to be delivered that week.
“This seems to be an area where the vendors are really struggling to commit to a delivery date for any of these items so we’re are pushing at our weekly progress meetings to get a delivery date. As of right now I can’t tell you when they are coming, but I can tell you they are on order,” Spesia said.
However, Spesia isn’t giving a timeline for the work to wrap up. He did share that at the Village Board’s meeting in late May decorative items—bike racks and planters—were scheduled to arrive that week, but as of last weeks meeting they still hadn’t been received by the contractor.
The reconstruction project has been on-going since spring 2019 and the majority of the improvement is being funded through a federal Surface Transportation Program grant the village obtained through the Will County Governmental League.
“Hopefully we get this wrapped up by end of June, I remain cautiously optimistic,” the trustee said.