ROCHELLE – Thanks to the city’s annual Pedestrian Network Replacement program, citizens walking along Main Street and other high-traffic neighborhoods will be noticing nice new, smooth, flat sidewalks this summer.
The work will start by the end May and this year there are many upgrades planned, with the city’s main focus on the sidewalks running through downtown.
“This calendar year we have an area south of Fifth Avenue to the Union Pacific railroad tracks on each side of Main Street and then a small section from Main Street over to North Sixth Street on the north side of Sixth Avenue.”

All of the funding for the repairs is received through the city’s utility taxes. The program has been going on for the past several years and has become an essential part of maintaining the city. Within the last 20 years the program has repaired 815,000 square feet of pathways.
“This program and many of the other capital improvement projects are an integral part of developing our community and maintaining the infrastructure for growth in the community,” Tesreau explained.
Although the program is aimed at repairing the sidewalks and multi-use paths that run through town, it also addresses other infrastructure in need of repairs.
“Along with the sidewalk project we typically replace the disabled accessible ramps at the intersections,” said Tesreau. “With that also comes curb and gutter replacement.”
Many of the sidewalks and crosswalks were cemented 60 years ago and are not up to code with the Americans with Disabilities Act. The plans to repair the paths also help bring the walkways up to standard code.
“It improves our downtown area and provides for a larger platoon for pedestrians to use,” said Tesreau, who added the entire project should be completed by mid-September. “We have a lot of activities downtown; the people will use those sidewalks.”