South O’Brien Street Rehabilitation Project

Expected start date

April 2025

Purpose

This project aims to improve pedestrian mobility to and from residential, commercial, and school facilities. The project also aims to improve the roadway condition and drainage, and to lengthen its service life.

Need

Currently, sidewalks exist only intermittently throughout the corridor. No sidewalk exists on either side of the road for approximately 4,258 feet of the 5,871 feet of these segments. In addition, several side streets with existing sidewalks end at O’Brien Street with no sidewalk continuity across or onto O’Brien Street. There are also several locations with worn paths along O’Brien Street, indicating frequent pedestrian use. Curbs exist only in isolated locations and are typically very short due to roadway overlays inhibiting drainage along the entire corridor. Very few drainage structures exist, and where they do exist, there is often no evident outfall to a defined system. Most of the corridor features no drainage (open ditch or enclosed), and runoff collects at the side of the road and infiltrates or ponds. East Tipton Street (a short street separate from US 50, which also carries the local name East Tipton) intersects O’Brien just 90 feet north of U.S. 50, and the auxiliary lanes on O’Brien Street approach U.S. 50 and extend through the East Tipton intersection. This makes left turns from East Tipton Street to O’Brien Street difficult and potentially dangerous, as sight distance to northbound oncoming traffic could be restricted by queued vehicles in the southbound lanes. The condition of pavement varies throughout each segment due to isolated resurfacing efforts performed in 2016 and 2018. Where the roadway was not resurfaced, the pavement exhibited frequent cracking in the wheel path, which is considered a structural failure. The original roadway was constructed in the 1930’s and has been overlaid four times throughout its life cycle.

Project details

This project consists of a full-depth reconstruction of pavement, additional curb and gutter on each side, and sidewalk on both sides of the roadway. The sidewalk along the west side from Village Circle Avenue to U.S. 50 will be six feet wide adjacent to the back of the curb with no buffer. In the segment between Village Circle Ave. and U.S. 50 intersection, the sidewalk along the east side will be 5 feet wide separated from the back of the curb by a 5-foot-wide buffer. In some locations along the west side from Village Circle Avenue to U.S. 50, the sidewalk will transition to a 6-foot-wide sidewalk adjacent to the back of curb with no buffer to avoid right-of-way conflicts (ROW). ADA-compliant curb ramps will be constructed on each side of each street crossing, and sidewalk transitions will be used at each driveway crossing. The drainage for the proposed roadway section will consist of a curb and gutter on each side throughout the project limits, regardless of sidewalk placement. Therefore, the roadway will be drained by either curb inlets or an enclosed drainage system that connects to the existing storm sewer.

Project Map

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Environmental Study

Click here to view the IDEM Environmental Study

Total cost of project

$2.87 million

Total length of project

1.11 miles