Traffic through the middle of Winchester may be disrupted for the next few weeks.
Utility Supervisor John Simmons and work crews began pulling up sidewalks at the intersection of Cherry Street and Main Street to replace crumbling storm sewers next to the Illinois Rural Electric Co-Op building.
Winchester Mayor Rex McIntire says that the city has been looking to fix the problem with the sewer since last Fall: “There are some issues with the foundation of the IREC building that they feel like that the storm sewer has created. They fear that old sewer pipe might settle and create a problem with the building. We are going forward with replacing the storm sewer to hopefully stabilize everything there. We needed a new sidewalk along there anyway.”
McIntire believes the project will take approximately a week to complete. Currently, the city is using employees from the Illinois Department of Transportation as flaggers due to lane reductions on Cherry Street, which is a part of Illinois Route 106.
McIntire says the city waited for the material for the sewer through the winter time to begin the project.