For those in the Catalina subdivision who have been inconvenienced by water main and road construction in 2023 and 2024, more of the same is coming in 2025.
The aging infrastructure in that neighborhood is forcing the Village of Orland Park to give it extra attention in the form of three phases of work.
On March 3, the board discussed the issue at its Committee of the Whole meeting and later voted to award Joliet-based Airy’s Inc. a $9.6 million bid for the third and final phase.
Public Works Director Joel Van Essen said the infrastructure is roughly 25 years old and improvements needed to be made.
“Water main breaks give us a true sign that maybe an area of the village needs the water main replaced or lined,” he said. “This project is Phase 3 for the Catalina area. In Phase 1, we did some lining on the water main on Wheeler (Avenue) which was one of the larger pipes.”
He added that Phase 2 worked on a section of the area and Phase 3 will address another section. Storm basins will be added as a part of the massive project.
Road paving will also be a part of the project with one area getting paved in 2025 and the other in 2026.
There will be additional work in the form of spur projects to the water feed from Oak Lawn to Orland Park.
“It’s been quite a challenge with both of those projects going on simultaneously, but we’re happy to see that we’re finalizing the last of the third phase for water and storm,” Van Essen said.
Both Van Essen and Mayor Keith Pekau thanked the residents of the area for their patience.
“We’ll be completely done by 2026,” Pekau said. “[The residents] have been dealing with this for a bit.”
Gym dandies
The board recognized the District 230 co-op gymnastics team, which features athletes from Sandburg, Andrew and Stagg.
The team finished sixth in the state and it was the first time it qualified for the Illinois High School Association State meet since the three teams merged in 2019.
It’s also the first time a district team qualified since Sandburg did it in 2009.
To get to the state meet, it needed an at-large bid after posting a program-best 142.475 score.
Sandburg’s Regann Chausse finished eighth on the balance beam at the meet, which was held Feb. 21-22 at Palatine High School.