The Department of Water Management is working on replacing 1,300 of water main beneath Hutchinson (Greenview to Clark) and Greenview (Berteau to Cullom). The water main is the large pipe that runs along the street and brings water to each building's individual service line. The existing main dates back to the 1890s. This project will be an opportunity for DWM to replace the water main, replace any existing lead service lines, and fully repave all three blocks once the project is complete. The project is expected to last approximately 3 months. Impacted residents must abide by the parking restrictions and be on the lookout for direct phone outreach from the Water Department regarding their personal lead line.

• Expected Duration of Project: 3 months (July completion), followed by asphalt and concrete restoration.

• Parking impacts: 7am-3:30pm on weekdays – no access to or parking on the street. Parking will be available at all other times. Crews will work to accommodate special deliveries, disabled residents, etc.

• Water Shutoffs: Crews will strive to provide 5 days' notice ahead of any scheduled service interruptions. Some emergency repairs may take place (old pipes tend to crack as they are being worked on). These service interruptions are not expected to impacted buildings that are not on the directly impacted blocks.

Update (6/5/25):

The new main under Hutchinson has successfully passed the requisite tests and crews have started transferring individual buildings' water service from the old main to the new. They are scheduling each building's work with building owners.

The water main under Greenview is currently being pressure tested and chlorinated. once those tests are successfully passed, transfers will begin on that street as well.

*The foreman has asked me to remind neighbors to please follow the 7:30am parking restrictions. While they were able to be flexible with car owners during main installation, this second phase of the work requires crews to jump around from building to building around the project. Please ensure that you move your cars to avoid getting towed.

The Department of Water Management is planning on replacing the main beneath:

• Hermitage from Sunnyside to Montrose

• Sunnyside from Paulina to Ravenswood

• Ravenswood (west leg) from Wilson to Lawrence.

The water main is the large pipe that runs along the street and brings water to each building's individual service line. The existing main dates back to the 1890s. This project will be an opportunity for DWM to replace the water main, replace any existing lead service lines, and fully repave all three blocks once the project is complete. The project is expected to last approximately 3 months. Impacted residents and businesses must abide by the parking restrictions and be on the lookout for direct phone outreach from the Water Department regarding their personal lead line.

• Start Date: Crews intend to start work after Memorial Day.

• Expected Duration of Project: 3 months, followed by asphalt and concrete restoration.

• Parking impacts: 7am-3:30pm on weekdays – no access to or parking on the street. Parking will be available at all other times. Crews will work to accommodate special deliveries, disabled residents, etc.

• Water Shutoffs: Crews will strive to provide 5 days' notice ahead of any scheduled service interruptions. Some emergency repairs may take place (old pipes tend to crack as they are being worked on). These service interruptions are not expected to impacted buildings that are not on the directly impacted blocks.

You can watch a recording of our 5/19 meeting with the Water Department here.

Update (6/5/25):

Crews are moving forward well installing the new main under each block. In the next couple of weeks, they will need to proceed with source connections (connecting the new main to the existing water system), which will have service and traffic impacts. I will share more information when we have it.

Once the new mains are successfully installed and connected to the wider system, crews will be able to start transferring each building's service to the new main. They will coordinate with property owners to schedule this transfer. This is still several weeks away.

Alderman Martin worked with Ald. Vasquez to secure the funding for CDOT to resurface Damen Ave from Wilson Ave north to Farragut.

The work will involve grinding down the existing asphalt, raising manholes and other utility services to meet the street level, and repaving the streets with new asphalt. This will include replacing the asphalt on the street and replacing ADA ramps as well as damaged sidewalks.

On Damen, CDOT will also be making pedestrian safety improvements in the form of curb extensions and raised intersections at Leland and at Winnemac. They will also include improvements to bicycle facilities.

On 8/14/24 our office, along with CDOT and the 40th Ward, hosted a virtual meeting to discuss the work and address any concerns that residents or businesses may have. You can view a recording of this meeting here.

Update (6/5/25):

CDOT is returning to complete some of the outstanding concrete work remaining on the Damen Ave resurfacing project. Specifically, they will shortly begin work installing raised crosswalks across Ainslie (east and west leg) and Giddings (west leg) at Damen.

Raised crosswalks (aka speed tables) help improve pedestrian safety by increasing pedestrian visibility to oncoming drivers, while acting as a speed hump to slow drivers approaching an intersection.

The installation of each raised crosswalk will require a full closure of the intersection for a period of one week. The closures will take place as follows:

• Week of 6/16: Ainslie closed west of Damen

• Week of 6/16: Giddings closed west of Damen

• Week of 6/23: Ainslie closed east of Damen

Giddings Plaza is a staple of the community and has been well-loved for decades. However, the condition of the plaza has worsened over the years, with missing pavers and tripping hazards that make the plaza difficult to navigate for our seniors, young children, and disabled residents. 

Starting on August 12th, CDOT will begin work to remove and replace the pavers on the plaza to eliminate these tripping hazards. The work will replace all the pavers, remove the broken water fountain (behind a bench near Jerry’s) to be replaced with a planter, and remove one of the trees in the plaza due to its health and impact on the pavers. 

After consulting with nearby businesses, our office coordinated with CDOT and the project contractor to create a plan that would have the least impact on the surrounding businesses, residents, and users of the plaza. The updated plan divides the plaza into 5 sections for the work to be completed in a phased manner.

Crews will work on one section of the plaza at a time – working from Lincoln back toward the alley – leaving the rest of the plaza open for pedestrian traffic. This phased approach will allow the plaza to still be partially accessible for pedestrians and residents, and will have the least amount of impact on the adjacent businesses and sidewalk cafés. During each phase, a 6-foot-fence will be put up along the perimeter of the relevant section to guarantee neighbors' safety. Equipment and materials will be brought from behind the plaza, but the alley will remain accessible throughout.

Update (5/15/25):

Work was largely completed.

The contractor still needs to complete punch list items over the past couple of weeks. They intend to return to remove pavers on the southeast corner of the plaza to build a new raingarden to address consistent standing water issues.

Starting in early June, CDOT will be making structural repairs to the Montrose bridge over the river. The work will include sidewalk improvements, bridge deck patching, milling and paving the existing asphalt pavement, and striping. During bridge deck patching, there will be closures on half of the bridge, and then flipped once complete, but traffic will shift and remain open in both directions during the work. Work is expected to be completed in early August

Alderman Martin helped the CTA secure $20M to proceed with a large-scale renovation of the Western Brown Line station, which will take place in 2024 and 2025.

The Alderman and the CTA have co-hosted two community meetings to help shape the work; you can read reporting about the first meeting here. You can also view a recording of the second meeting, hosted on 5/29/24, at this link.

As part of its Collector Resurfacing program, CDOT is repaving Cornelia Ave between Paulina St and Western Ave.

Update (12/10/24):

In the fall of 2024, CDOT successfully replaced all the curbs along Cornelia. However, there was not enough time to complete the resurfacing before winter, so CDOT filled in all open holes along the curbs for the winter. They will repave Cornelia in the spring of 2025.

The Department of Transportation is building the Leland Neighborhood Greenway from Rockwell Ave to Clark St. This low-stress bikeway slow traffic for the benefit of cyclists and pedestrians and will allow cyclists to safely bike from the lake to the river. Improvements will include:

• bike-friendly speed humps;

• detached curb extensions (bump-outs), landscaped west of Western;

• a contraflow bike lane on one-way stretches to allow cyclists to travel in both directions;

• raised crosswalks;

• a protected bike lane and traffic diverter between Lincoln and Western.

You can find out more about the project here.

Update (1/9/25):

Contractors have finished building the project’s bump-outs and striped the bike markings, including contraflow lanes. They will be installing speed humps in the spring, when they will also plant bump-outs that were filled with soil.

Crews will also build the protected bike lane between Lincoln and Western as part of the Western Plaza renovation work at that intersection.

As part of its Collector Resurfacing program, CDOT plans to repave Ravenswood Ave north of Wilson Ave. In addition to the repaving, CDOT will install a number of pedestrian and bicycle improvements along the corridor. As discussed at our 5/1/24 community meeting (which you can read reporting on here), CDOT will install a southbound contraflow bike lane between Winnemac and Leland, part of which will be protected by a concrete curb between Ainslie and Winnemac (replacing the parking on the west side of Ravenswood). Additionally, two raised crosswalks will be installed between Lawrence and Winnemac and a pedestrian refuge island on Lawrence at Ravenswood to improve visibility and safety for crossing pedestrians.

Finally, this project will create space for the planned expansion of the Winnslie Parkway community garden from Ainslie to Lawrence. This will provide 1,000 new feet of pedestrian paths to the Ravenswood Metra Station in a new community-run garden (see here). To accommodate these improvements, CDOT will convert diagonal parking into parallel parking spaces along the tracks on the west side of Ravenswood between Ainslie and Lawrence. This will result in a reduction of roughly 25 parking spaces on that stretch. 

Construction is expected to begin on 5/26. Crews will first work on curbs (repairing them and proceeding with the parkway expansion mentioned above) for several weeks, starting at Peterson and moving south. They will then remove the old asphalt and repave the street – expect a 2-3 week delay between those two actions, as utility companies repair and adjust manholes and other structures. They will finally return at the end of the project to install the bike lane curb between Ainslie and Winnemac, refuge island at Lawrence, and raised crosswalks. Please note that CDOT anticipates temporary closures of Ravenswood north of Lawrence for the construction of the raised crosswalks.

Update (6/5/25):

Crews have been working on sawcutting the concrete on Ravenswood south of Winnemac this week. They will start removing and replacing concrete on the east side of Ravenswood next week, including replacing the sunken portion of sidewalk adjacent to curbs on the 4800 block. We have requested that they remove parking restrictions from the west side of Ravenswood while they are working on the east side.

The Department of Water Management intends to replace the water mains under Hermitage Ave from Montrose and Sunnyside and under Sunnyside Ave from Ravenswood to Paulina. This project is not yet scheduled.