The Charleston City Council approved a resolution to enter into an agreement with the Illinois Department of Transportation among other action items during a meeting on Sept. 4.

IDOT will begin work on Lincoln Avenue. According to the agreement between the city and IDOT, they will work on approximately 4.3 miles of Lincoln spanning from 0.2 miles west of Douglas Drive to 0.4 miles east of Madison Street Road.

The road work will include milling the surface, patching, repairing curbs, gutters, and medians and resurfacing with hot mix asphalt.

Other work will be done to make areas along the road compliant with the American Disabilities Act, such as ADA compliant curb ramps, pedestrian push button pedestals and countdown warnings.

Traffic signals and their systems will be replaced as a result of the agreement, as well as crosswalks.

Other work found necessary to complete the project may also be done.

According to the agreement, the State of Illinois will provide improvements at seven locations within the corporate limits of the city.

The total cost of the project is estimated to be $4,089,050, which will be paid for by both the state and the city. The state is estimated to pay $3,935,150 for the project, and the city is estimated to pay $153,900.

The city will be paying for their portion of the project by appropriating funds from the city’s Motor Fuel Tax in the 2020 fiscal year.

The project was included in the budget prior to the agreement.

Charleston Mayor Brandon Combs said the budget included $180,000 to pay for the project.

Combs said the project needs to be done.

“It’s a big deal because Lincoln’s horrible,” he said.

He said after the project, the section of the road “is going to be amazing.”

Raffle licenses for the Women of Moose Lodge #1175 and the Five Mile House Foundation were approved during the consent agenda of the meeting.

A proclamation was made by Combs to declare Sept. 17 through Sept. 23 Constitution Week 2018 to celebrate the 231 year anniversary of the drafting of the Constitution.

The proclamation says it is “fitting and proper to officially recognize the patriotic celebrations which will commemorate the occasion.”

A resolution authorizing the expenditure of tourism funds for Candy Crush 2018 was approved.

The tourism fund will provide $1,000 dollars to cover the expenses of the event as requested by the Coles County Airport Authority.

The council also voted to approve the Mayor’s re-appointment of Steve Hutti to a two-year term on the Police Pension Fund Board of Trustees and of Larry Shobe to a three-year term on the Charleston Tree Commission.

Corryn Brock can be reached at 581-2812 or at cebrock@eiu.edu.