DeKalb residents living on the north side of the city soon will have an extension of one of their roads.

“It’s all part of a long-range plan the city of DeKalb has to build a ring around the city.‘

Bill Lorence

DeKalb County Engineer

Residents living in and around Bethany Road and the River Mist subdivision soon can expect an extension of Bethany Road from its current ending point at 1st Street to nearly 2 miles west, connecting to north Annie Glidden Road.

The extension from Annie Glidden to north 1st Street recently has been completed through to Sangamon Road, and is open to traffic, but another portion of the extension, from 1st Street to Tygert Lane, has yet to be completed because of problems with the subdivision.

John Huber, highway commissioner for DeKalb Township, which controls an unincorporated area outside city limits, said the township was responsible for completing the road up to Tygert, while the city of DeKalb will pave a road from 1st Street to Tygert, and eventually meet up with the township’s project.

While the township has completed its portion, Huber says the city hasn’t yet, because there are complications in getting around the River Mist subdivision development.

Another portion of the road from Sangamon up to Tygert Lane also has been completed by the township, but has not been opened to traffic because of construction complications.

The problems have pushed production back as well. While everything was scheduled to have been completed this month, the city won’t begin on their stretch of road until spring 2002.

Huber said the price of the project is unclear, but he believes it will be around $600,000.

The design for the extension was put together by county engineer Bill Lorence. Lorence and other county engineers are overseeing the project.

“It’s all part of a long-range plan the city of DeKalb has to build a ring around the city,” Lorence said.

The completion of the Bethany Road extension will be convenient for residents of the city, Huber said. Residents of the area soon will have a direct route to travel when commuting from 1st Street to Annie Glidden.

“Generally, cars went down to Dresser Road then to Twombly Road, and finally over to [Route] 38 (Annie Glidden),” Huber said.

The alternate route also will clear congestion on 1st, Huber said.

The township, along with NIU and the city of DeKalb, also are planning to extend Bethany Road west of Annie Glidden in the future.

The construction completed thus far has received good feedback from citizens, Huber said.