The installation of traffic signals at Route 23 and Edgebrook Lane in Sycamore will cost taxpayers about $23,000 less than was expected.

When the Illinois General Assembly voted to go ahead with the project in February, the estimate for the project was $60,000. The reduction in price to $37,219.34 is due to “competitive bidding,” said Daryl Stienstra, second district construction engineer for the Dixon Highway Division. The bid that won the contract for the road project was that of contractor Cecil B. Wood.

“We’re (the taxpayers) making out pretty good in this project,” Stienstra said.

Underground work on the project is scheduled to start June 15, and the actual installation of the traffic signals will take from 30 to 45 days, said Rex Heacock, assistant director of engineering of the second district. The months before work on the project begins will be used for preparation and planning, Heacock said.

The primary reason for the project is the excessive traffic in the area, said Rep. John Countryman, R-DeKalb. “I look around my district for areas that need improvement, and this is definitely one,” he said before the proposal for the project went before the General Assembly. The area surrounding the intersection of Route 23 and Edgebrook Lane contains a car dealership, a mobile home park and car wash.

Plans for the road improvement have been in the works for almost three years, Countryman said.

The contract for the Sycamore project was awarded by the Illinois Department of Transportation along with contracts for six other road improvement projects in the 38th district of Sen. Patrick Welch, D-Peru. The entire price tag for the six projects is $8,655,197.33, he said.

The funding for the projects is “our tax dollars being re-invested in our roads, bridges and intersections,” Welch said.