DeKalb contracts firm for $1.8M roundabout at Lucinda Avenue, Normal Road

DeKALB – The City of DeKalb has tapped a Freeport-based construction firm to build a roundabout at Lucinda Avenue and Normal Road near Northern Illinois University.

The DeKalb City Council this week approved a contract with Fehr Graham in the amount of $198,000, which also will include $39,600 of local funds, according to city documents.

The roundabout, expected to cost in total about $1.8 million, has been about three to four years in the making, officials said.

City Engineer Zac Gill said the roundabout plans have evolved over time, with aid from the Illinois Department of Transportation and with coordination from NIU.

“Knowing that a project like that – the design and then typically the permitting, too, as well, through IDOT and others – take several years to complete and line up,“ Gill said. ”A lot of it started. We closed Normal [Road] prior to students returning. I think it was before the fall of the ‘23 semester, I believe, is when we closed Normal [Road] permanently. So, it was even leading up to that we had understood the funding was confirmed.”

The majority of the roundabout is funded through federal dollars, including an 80% to 20% funding match through the federal Surface Transportation Urban grant program.

Gill said he anticipates the project’s construction lasting the duration of the summer until classes resume at NIU in the fall.

“The full closure will go into place I believe it’s May 13,” Gill said. “It’s the Monday after graduation. We’ve coordinated this with NIU. ... It will be open by the time students are back.”

A detour route will need to be posted by the city.

“The majority of Lucinda will be open except for the intersection,” Gill said. “We’ll just be diverting traffic a block prior on the east and west side of that. That also will be completed by ... August. It’s the week before move-in weekend, so that’s why we closed it. With a roundabout, if you do a full closure, you can get them knocked out like that in about three months.”

If the intersection was left open to traffic, Gill said, construction would take significantly longer.

“[It] can extend it up to about five months or so if you do it under open traffic as well as drive up the cost and that’s why we made the decision with the campus being at a lull just to get in there, close it down, knock it out and get it back open,” Gill said.

Gill stressed that city and NIU officials have worked together to ensure a smooth working relationship.

“We’ve worked with the university through this process,” Gill said. “They are aware of what’s coming. We have temporary easements and things like that, so people can restore the grass, pour the sidewalk, ramps and tie it altogether in the end. But all the permanent improvements are in the city right-of-way, and it will remain city right-of-way.”