North Cook News

Village of Roselle officials recently addressed concerns from residents regarding a request for sidewalk maintenance.

During a Nov. 7 Village Board Meeting, a resident requested that maintenance be done on the sidewalks in and leading in to the downtown area as they are past their prime and no longer safe for pedestrians. The resident also asked that every single one of the arteries and main ways into the downtown area be included in the reviews and future projects.

"So we are continuing to evaluate the condition of them and make repairs and other improvements as we have funding available based on addressing other hazards and significant ADA issues throughout the village first," Roselle City Engineer Kristin Mehl said during the meeting. 

The board responded to these concerns, answering that the sidewalks in question are asphalt sidewalks as opposed to normal concrete sidewalks. This vastly increases the price of maintaining or replacing them, but they are focused on trying to find funding and do their best as issues with the sidewalks arise. They plan to try and allocate some funding from the state to broader paving projects including these issues.

The board explained that these sidewalks had to be put in as blacktop instead of concrete because of a court order placed on the village by a group in town that mandated methods of sidewalks, street lights, curbs and gutters placed in the area. The board will have to talk with legal officials to get the details of how this impacts maintenance on those sidewalks, but the original people from that lawsuit are currently still residents.