50th Street Storm Sewer Project

Project Overview

The Village has experienced multiple high-intensity rain events that exceeded the limited capacity of the Village's sewer system resulting in flooded basements, overland flooding in a number of depressional areas and private property drainage issues south of 47th Street. In response to the increasing frequency and intensity of rain events, the Village Board requested staff to pursue funding and engineering solutions that reduce flooding. View more information on flooding south of 47th Street.

The 50th Street Storm Sewer project seeks to reduce the incidences of overland flooding within the drainage basin south of 47th Street. The scope of work for the project includes constructing a dedicated storm sewer on 50th Street and associated lateral sewer segments that will drain stormwater from existing depressional areas.

The Village completed the engineering for the 50th Street Storm Sewer project in 2016 and went out to bid in the Spring of 2016. The project was stopped and delayed from its original schedule due to the litigation with the adjacent quarry, Lehigh Hanson. In 2018 the Village reached an agreement with Lehigh Hanson that settles the issues raised in a lawsuit that had been pending for two years. The agreement will allow the Village to move forward with its planned stormwater relief project when other elements of the overall project are in place.

The settlement includes funds for the construction of a stormwater pipe on the east side of East Avenue around the west and north perimeters of the quarry. That perimeter pipe will accept the stormwater through the 50th Street project and thus divert stormwater from discharging into the quarry. Meanwhile, the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District (MWRD) is studying the feasibility of constructing a detention facility on property adjacent to the northeast corner of the quarry. That detention facility, if constructed, would receive the stormwater that will flow from the 50th Street project and through the perimeter pipe. When fully completed the Village's 50th Street project is anticipated to provide flood relief to the drainage basin south of 47th Street.

Anticipated Schedule

The anticipated schedule for the project is as follows:

Action
Completion
Preliminary engineering analysis for MWRD detention facilityApril, 2019
Project scope refinement, meeting with stakeholders, agreement development and execution [Village, MWRD, IDOT]August, 2019
Detailed engineering and permitting for detention facilityFebruary, 2021
Detailed engineering and permitting for north route pipeAugust, 2020
Detailed engineering and permitting for 50th Street Storm SewerFebruary, 2020
Construction of detention facilityMarch, 2025
Construction of north route pipeMarch, 2024
Construction of 50th Street Storm SewerMarch, 2026

Construction Notices

Please select the following links for construction notices that have been issued for this project.

Project Updates

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