Sections of Fourth Street will remain closed until December while sewer systems and the Fourth Street Bridge are reconstructed.

Overall, the city is currently working to resolve sewer problems between Polk and Harrison Avenues.

“Our crews are out putting in a new storm sewer,” said Public Works Director Dean Barber.

As sanitary sewer lines tied into the storm sewer with time, waste water has taken over a significant portion of the storm drainage, which can lead to flooding within homes.

Barber said over the past two summers, the combined drainage has been filling the city’s sewer system.

Overflow problems in particularly affected sections of Fourth Street where combined lines led beneath buildings.

“Those sewers were beneath peoples homes; under their basements,” Mayor Dan Cougill said.

Public works efforts to eliminate combined sewer overflow on Fourth Street are part of an ongoing plan to separate sanitary and storm drainage throughout the city, thus eliminating the flooding problems.

“There are similar projects going on in different parts of town,” Barber said.

Individual residence problems should be reduced as the overall sewage repair project proceeds.

“Combined lines are being separated,” Barber said. “When that is done, we will fill the sanitary sewers.”

He said the Fourth Street portion is expected to be complete within a month.

Further north, between Harrison and Jackson Avenues, a bridge that has been troublesome for over four years will begin repairs nearly four weeks after the original August 1 commencement date.

The bridge will be widened and rebuilt to support safe movement of traffic.

Its width will taper off in 100 to 200 feet segments in each direction, narrowing back down to Fourth’s original width.

State funding will cover $344,000 of the project’s cost and the remaining $86,000 will come from motor fuel tax funds.

An Illinois Department of Transportation safety scale rating of 45 percent led to the approval of work on the historic bridge.

Visible signs of damage on the bridge’s surface, poor structure, which leads to flooding beneath the bridge, and a missing handrail contributed to the low score.

Despite it historic value as a more than century old structure, a desire for structural soundness led to its repair.

Construction is expected to last less than four months.

“The road will remain closed during construction and is expected to reopen December 15,” Barber said.