Client
Village of Oak Park
Project Team
Brian Pawula, PE, PMP
Project Manager, Phase II
Curtis Cornwell, PE, PTOE
Project Manager, Phase I
Vince Micek, PE, CFM
Project Engineer
Kevin VanDeWoestyne, PE, ENV SP.
Sewer and Water Design Lead
The Lakota Group
Subconsultant - Streetscape Planning, Landscape Architecture
WSP | Parsons Brinckerhoff
Subconsultant - Traffic Engineering
EJM Engineering, Inc.
Subconsultant - Civil Engineering
Huff & Huff, Inc.
Subconsultant - Environmental
2020 ASCE-ILLINOIS
Outstanding Civil Engineering Achievement ($10 to $25M)
2020 APWA-ILLINOIS
Public Works Project of the Year (Transportation $5M to $25M)
2020 ACEC-ILLINOIS
Merit Award Recipient
Thomas Engineering Group provided a combination of planning and engineering services for the Lake Street infrastructure improvements project in the Village of Oak Park’s primary commercial district. TEG was responsible for engineering, public involvement, and environmental screening to design a streetscape reconstruction project from Harlem Avenue to Euclid Avenue, a resurfacing project with ADA improvements (Euclid Avenue to Austin Avenue) and utilities project in which water and sanitary mains and services are being replaced between Grove Avenue and Euclid Avenue. TEG conducted a Risk Assessment Workshop at the project onset with Village of Oak Park Departments/Agencies such as Development, Permitting, Parking, Infrastructure Technology, Police, Fire, and Public Works to quantify and prioritize design criteria and ultimately arrive at a shared understanding of the overall project process. TEG collaborated with stakeholders, various Business Districts, Village Departments, utilities, and developers to identify the most appropriate grouping of improvements and determine cost-effective construction staging strategies that would least impact businesses.
Phase I included all preliminary engineering studies (traffic, safety, drainage, feasibility, etc.) to identify the most context appropriate streetscape reconstruction design that properly considers the previous 10+ years of Village-wide planning efforts and public involvement/surveys performed during the streetscape concepts stage. This work included a crash analysis and a traffic study which included collection of traffic data at over 26 nodes in and near the primary downtown Village business District. Various alternatives were studied including conversion of various streets to one-way, limiting turn movements, traffic calming, detours, bikeways, parking and loading zone studies, vehicle and pedestrian signal designs, etc. Because of the intense nature of mixed-use urban development, our team met repeatedly with Business Districts and individual owners during Phase I to incorporate their concerns and ideas into decision making process. This section of work also included addressing access to or filling of approximately 19 private and/or utility vaults located beneath public sidewalks. TEG worked closely with Village Landscape Architect (Lakota) and Wayfinding Consultant (Sasaki) to ensure street design and staging would accommodate plans for their respective disciplines. TEG also prepared Phase II plans for this section which included street and pedestrian lighting as well as signal modernization at 6 signalized intersections. Material pallets included bluestone sidewalk, signature brick intersections at primary cross streets, colored concrete cross-walks and a raised speed table/cross-walk in front of the historic Lake Street Theater
The resurfacing project consisted of developing plans, specifications, and estimates for Lake Street between Euclid Avenue and Austin Avenue. This project included ADA improvements at nearly every corner radii as well as mid-block design to accommodate Pedestrian Access Requirements (PAR), on-street parking and push-button activated signals.
Water and sanitary sewer improvements (replacement of mains and services) were designed for Lake Street between Grove Avenue and Euclid Avenue as well as water and sewer lining improvements to the east. This project was constructed in advance of the resurfacing and partly concurrent to the streetscape reconstruction to minimize stage construction challenges for the Business Districts and residents.