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River Street project in Janesville delayed but still moving forward

JANESVILLE — Stalled environmental and historical reviews have forced postponement of planned renovations to River Street until summer 2013.

The project, which includes a stretch of road between Racine and Court streets, originally was scheduled for this summer. Work was expected to be completed in October.

“Frankly, I think we knew everything had to fall in place,” to meet the original deadline of Nov. 1, 2011, said Carl Weber, public works director.

A federal grant requiring environmental and historical site evaluations will cover 80 percent of the project’s $1.7 million price tag. Before that can happen, however, an environmental consultant must submit findings to the Wisconsin Department of Transportation and a historical consultant must provide findings to the State Historical Preservation Office.

The city received the go-ahead from the state historical office earlier this summer and it expects to get environmental approval in September. The project is set to begin in 2013.

The state will start taking bids on the project in April. Among the features of the planned improvements are:

-- A rain garden between Union and Rock streets adjacent to the Rock River to capture and clean dirty runoff water from the street.

-- Bump-outs to will shorten the length of pedestrian crossings and slow traffic.

-- Two bike lanes.

-- 6-foot terraces between sidewalks and the curb.