Full Repairs on South Farnsworth Avenue Underway

As of Monday afternoon, South Farnsworth Avenue is again closed to traffic. But Aurora Township Highway Commissioner John Shoemaker hopes that by Friday, the street will be as good as new.

Shoemaker initially a half-mile stretch of the road between Montgomery Road and Ogden Avenue—a first for the township, he believes—on Feb. 22, after deeming it unsafe for drivers. This winter’s temperature extremes, he said, led to larger-than-average potholes, sinkholes and cracks.

Township crews performed a temporary fix, and the road was opened up two weeks later, but Shoemaker said a much more extensive repair job would be needed.

That repair job will begin Tuesday, he said. Geneva Construction crews will dig out six inches of the old road, and lay down new stone, new binding and a new surface. Part of the issue with South Farnsworth, Shoemaker said, is that the top surface of the road, laid down eight years ago, was never properly bound to the stone beneath it.

Shoemaker hopes the renovation will be finished by Friday, but didn’t guarantee it.

Crews will only repair the vast majority of the road owned by Aurora Township. The City of Aurora is responsible for “a few hundred feet” of that street, according to spokesman Kevin Stahr, but Shoemaker said the city declined his offer to repair its portion.

Shoemaker did not have an estimate on the cost of repairing South Farnsworth. He said it was all wrapped up in one large bid for the township’s 2011 road repairs, which Geneva Construction won. Shoemaker plans to spend $480,000 on street repairs this year—a record for the township, and surpassing his 2010 total of $340,000.

“I’m relieved and ecstatic this is happening,” Shoemaker said. “This needed to be done.”