Brad Cushman is Studies and Plans Senior Squad Leader, with the Bureau of Program Development, at Illinois Department of Transportation District 2. On, Tuesday, March 27, 2018, he emailed CA Dykhuizen, “I spoke with our Operations Engineer yesterday, and she confirmed that this emergency project is ‘a go.’…Make note that we still are proceeding with the total reconstruction [of Route 78.] This [resurfacing] is just a bandaid with no salve.”
On March 28, Mayor Everett Pannier stated, “What [Cushman] is saying is that IDOT has decided…to do an emergency overlay on the current [E. Wall and Clinton Streets], as a temporary improvement to the surface. This would only take IDOT’s contractors about three days to complete and would be done during school hours.”
Cushman was true to his word.
Less than a month later, on Tuesday, April 24, City Administrator Barry Dykhuizen told the Editor, “There is all new asphalt on a brand new road, south of the tracks. It could last five or six years,” because the asphalt is “two or two-and-a-half inches thick.”
It is extra gratifying to note the resurfacing was completed over two days, on Monday, April 23, and Tuesday.
Civil Construction, LLC, flagman Wayne Zettle, of Forreston, IL, stated the asphalt layer “is closer to 2.5 inches thick.” This is his “13th year of employment with Civil.”
