South Irving Street Neighborhood Complete Street Project

Location

South Irving Street from 6th Street South to 7th Street South, in the Arlington Heights neighborhood

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Status

Planned

At their September 2019 monthly meeting, the Neighborhood Complete Streets Commission affirmed the staff recommendation to move forward with this project as one of the first capital projects undertaken by the Neighborhood Complete Streets program. Staff began an initial effort of scoping, feasibility investigation, and public engagement. A concept design was presented for public consideration and feedback.

Later, constraints related to street width and on-street parking emerged and the availability of new capital project funds became very limited. All locations nominated for NCS consideration are being reevaluated under revised, County Board-approved Project Ranking Guidelines. The Neighborhood Complete Streets Commission will reevaluate their ability to continue work on this project before significantly revising the preliminary concept designs and reengaging with residents.

About the Project

The block of South Irving Street between 6th and 7th Streets South was nominated by residents in spring 2017 for Neighborhood Complete Streets consideration due to the lack of a complete sidewalk on either side of the street. When the nominated projects were scored and ranked based on the NCS criteria, this project was among the top problem street locations on the list.

The primary goal of this NCS project is to provide safe access by providing the missing sidewalk infrastructure for a contiguous sidewalk on one side of the block, consistent with the goals outlined in the County’s Master Transportation Plan. Limiting disruption to existing green space and on-street parking and avoiding utility conflicts in order to manage costs are also considerations in the goal of providing safe access. As with all County projects, County policies and engineering best practices will be used in the development of this project. The project will include evaluation of the intersections of South Irving Street with 6th Street South and 7th Street South for modifications.

Public Process

The Neighborhood Complete Streets program is committed to creating a customized public engagement plan for each NCS project. This allows staff and the Neighborhood Complete Streets Commission to adjust the engagement to the nature, scope and scale of each project, as well as to consider the stakeholder communities involved.

The process has included the following:

• Dec. 10, 2019 - Project open house at Arlington Mill Community Center
• Nov. 19, 2019 - Neighborhood Block Meeting at the corner of 6th Street South and South Irving Street
• Nov. 11, 2019 - Presentation to Arlington Heights Civic Association
• September 2019 - Neighborhood Complete Streets Commission moves for staff to begin public engagement
• June 2019 - Scored and ranked potential project location list finalized
• Spring 2017 - Public nomination

Funding

Preliminary estimates show the project will cost approximately $572,000 to implement. The NCS program is funded through the County’s Capital Improvement Plan.