An Aurora City Council committee has recommended an intergovernmental agreement between the city and Kane County for an upgraded sound fence along Orchard Road.
The upgraded fence has been “a decade in the making,” according to Ian Wade, of the city’s Engineering Division. During that time, the busy Orchard Road on the far West Side of Aurora has become busier, particularly with more truck traffic.
The Finance Committee Thursday recommended the new agreement between the city and the county that includes a special service area that would collect money from property owners along the roadway where the fence would be built.
The agreement for the type of fence is “really unprecedented” for the county and the city, Ald. Carl Franco, 5th Ward, Finance Committee chair, said.
“It took a little longer because we didn’t have a blueprint,” he said.
Wade described the fence as something in between the type of wooden fence that is there now and the full Illinois Department of Transportation sound wall used along expressways and interstate roadways.
The idea was to get something that would be significantly better for tamping down the sound along Orchard Road, but would be affordable, Wade said.
Funding for the fence would come from several sources. Franco has accumulated $500,000 in ward funds over a number of years to put toward the project – Orchard Road is in the 5th Ward. Wade said the city has gotten four separate state grants to put toward the project.
There would be a special service area along the length of the fence for property owners there. With all the money collected, Wade said it should cost property owners “a couple hundred dollars” a year.
“It should be doable for residents,” he said.
Orchard Road is a busy highway that starts in North Aurora and runs to Oswego. Development along the highway has led to more traffic, and it is a throughway for truck traffic, in part due to the interchange with Interstate 88.
Several years ago, Old Dominion Freight Line built a semi truck depot along Aucutt Road in Montgomery, which has created even more truck traffic along Orchard Road.
Old Dominion originally wanted to build that depot on the far East Side of Aurora, off Ferry Road, but the City Council ended up voting against that plan because of the effect the traffic would have on an unincorporated subdivision next door.
The freight line relocated their plan to the Montgomery site. Franco has commented several times over the years, and did again at the committee meeting, about the unintended consequence of the truck line affecting traffic through Aurora with the city getting no revenue from the depot.
Franco said the noise along Orchard Road has been a real problem.
“I live five blocks in and I can hear the traffic, so it resonates through the neighborhood,” he said.
Franco also praised the idea of putting together an agreement where residents pay some of the cost, and where the city and county share costs.
“If we fund this all ourselves, Geneva’s going to want one, Batavia’s going to want one,” he said. “But we have some skin in the game.”
Wade said officials are hoping to have the new wall fully built by late 2025.
In making the recommendation of the intergovernmental agreement, committee members also recommended a $94,445 payment to Kane County for recent work done to Orchard Road.
Wade said the Kane County Division of Transportation recently did pavement patching, curb repairs and signage improvement along the highway. The money represents 50% of the cost.
The full City Council will consider the agreements at the Committee of the Whole meeting on Tuesday.
slord@tribpub.com
