The City of Savanna identified the need to improve the infrastructure on Wacker Road, which serves residential homes, commercial properties, industrial facilities and West Carroll Primary School. The existing roadway lacked adequate turning radii at the junction of IL Route 84, was extremely narrow with substandard drainage, and did not have any sidewalk leading to the primary school, making transit for pedestrians largely unsafe.

MSA paired with Community Funding and Planning Service (CFPS) to assist the City with the acquisition of several grants from various state and federal agencies, including the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA), IDOT Economic Development Program (EDP), IDOT Truck Access Route Program (TARP) and IDOT Safe Routes to School (SRTS) program. The organizations were successful in receiving large and impactful grants through each of these programs, along with principal forgiveness and low-interest loans via the Illinois EPA’s State Revolving Fund.

Improvements along Wacker Road include a new, 31-foot-wide, 9-inch concrete roadway, 5-foot-wide concrete sidewalk with ADA compliance ramps, rectangular rapid flashing beacons (RRFBs) at school crosswalks, a storm sewer collection system, water main replacement, sanitary sewer replacement, and increased radii to accommodate truck turning movements along the route. The project also included reconstruction of Willow Street and Hickory Street with added sidewalks. These are two primary roads that students walk from nearby residential neighborhoods, and improvements greatly boost safety and accessibility per Safe Routes to School guidelines.

Throughout the design process, MSA engaged in multiple public information meetings with the public and project stakeholders, and designed and constructed improvements in accordance with the IDOT Bureau of Local Roads (BLR) Manual, working closely with IDTO District 2 during construction. The project required IDOT approval of an Intersection Design Study (IDS) for the modification of the intersection at Wacker Road and IL Route 84.

The project broke ground in June 2019 and was completed in 2020.