By By JAMES COLLINS / Niles Daily Star
NILES -- The streetscape project will not be the only construction going on in downtown Niles this year.
City officials also have plans to separate the storm drain and sewer systems.
He said the streetscape project is getting most of the focus and wanted people to know of that his will be taking place as well.
The Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) project will separate the storm drain and sewer systems, which are currently linked together.
He looks for the CSO projects to be going on in Niles for the next 10 to 15 years.
Eull said the City of Niles is receiving some state aid for the streetscape project and wanted to see the city do something in conjunction with that.
Eull said the city will begin taking bids for the project at the end of February, with construction to begin in early April.
He said construction should take approximately 13 weeks and if everything goes as planned they hope to be done by the middle of July.
In 1999, the State developed a 10-year CSO plan for Niles.
He said the city has been doing approximately $200,000 a year worth of work on these projects.
This year's project will cost approximately $700,000.
The current system allows for possible overflows in the event of torrential rain storms and it unnecessarily treats stormwater at the waste water treatment plant.
The construction project will leave the sewer line alone and create a main pipe for storm water down Sycamore to the river.
Eull said all of the businesses downtown will remain accessible.
The project will require Sycamore Street to be completely torn up and cause some minor disruption on Main Street.
Construction will begin on Front Street and work up one block at a time until they reach Fourth Street.
He said this project will be very helpful for the downtown area because the water has nowhere to go.