Road over the Flood, Curb’s Higher than Sidewalk

AVALON – Will County Engineer Dale Foster someday author a paper “How to Meet the Rising Sea and Drive Through It?” 
Using Avalon as the setting, Foster could pen a document that young engineers may use as a reference if they confront water levels that rise to flood roadways in seaside towns.
He would write of the design phase of the $4-million Ocean Drive Improvement Project from 29th Street to 80th Street. The major focus is between 29th Street and 62nd Street.
Avalon Borough Council has already heard Foster’s proposal that will elevate Ocean Drive to make it passable after heavy rains or exceptionally high tides that accompany storms or lunar cycles.
Foster expects to start the project in early 2017 going from north to south. The work will stop for the summer on or about June 9, 2017, and will be “made safe” for the summer.
The contractor will resume after Sept. 5 and work until the job is completed by the end of 2017.
As the project continues, it is expected traffic control will close traffic in one direction daily while the drainage and concrete work is done in that lane. Traffic will be detoured to Dune Drive.
When milling and paving are underway, all traffic will be detoured to Dune Drive. At no time will Ocean Drive be closed to traffic over a weekend.
The project includes more than “just” raising the roadway. It will also replace deteriorated or out of grade curbs, gutters, sideways and driveway aprons. It will update traffic signals at 30th and 42nd streets as well as update or install handicap access ramps, repair or replace catch basins and manholes, upgrade storm water drains to be bicycle compatible and re-stripe the roadway.
He met with the Avalon Home and Land Owners Association Sept. 17 to further explain the project to those whose properties are along County Road 619 as Ocean Drive is also known. 
When Foster explained the project to freeholders Sept. 13, there were a few dropped jaws when he told them that, in some sections, the curb would be higher than the sidewalk.
“Say this again,” ordered Freeholder Director Gerald Thornton, who thought he heard incorrectly.
“The gutter at the edge of the pavement will be higher than the sidewalk,” replied Foster in a matter-of-fact tone. “It won’t be a tripping hazard,” he quickly added. That’s because the sidewalk in many places will be replaced as part of the project, he said.
The existing Ocean Drive is below Elevation 3, Foster said. That’s lower than monthly high tides driven by the moon. 
“We are trying to get above the three, to five feet, to help with tidal flooding,” said Foster.
“The goal of this project is to raise the roadway elevation as high as possible without compounding flooding on adjacent properties,” he wrote in a Sept. 9 letter to homeowners.
He displayed a photograph of January flooding on the road in 32nd Street vicinity.
Raising the road is one thing. Getting homeowners through the water on their property is another.
Foster plans to have the water shunted into catch basins, utilizing flapper valves to block seawater from going up into the street.
With grass and special drains, the plan is designed to quickly drain water from a 10-year storm, Foster said.
County Counsel James Arsenault was one of the first people Foster consulted as he proposed the road raising project.
Arsenault told the board his concerns were not so much regarding flood amounts, “My concern was more toward winter events.”
That is because after a snowfall, water is higher because of the roadbed, and more vigilance is called for due to sidewalks freezing. The borough has an ordinance directing owners to maintain sidewalks.
Foster admitted the concept will be “hard for people to understand,” but noted the borough is supportive of the project. He also has made copies of an explanatory letter with diagrams to inform property owners who will be affected by the project.
Foster also said he had discussed the project with the Avalon zoning officer because the borough may have to “revisit their site ordinance.” Should that be necessary, he said, the county would work with the municipality to meet the criteria.
Avalon properties are required to slope from the rear property boundary toward the road to the property line; not all do, Foster wrote in the letter.
Lawn grates placed between the sidewalk and private property line will be spaced so that the depth of water is calculated to be no more than one inch deep at the low point valley in the right-of-way.
Foster warned owners that, once the work is done, no permits will be issued for Ocean Drive between 29th and 62nd Street for five years. All such work must be undertaken before Feb. 1, 2017.
The project is listed in the state Transportation Improvement Program for $1.7 million. It must still be authorized by the state Department of Transportation for the county to receive federal funds.
“Depending on the availability of federal funds, the state may only authorize the project for the $1.7 million amount,” Foster wrote.
Avalon has a pump station at 34th Street that aids in ridding the intersection of water, Foster said.